A festive survivor to determine the best and worst singles for John Lewis ads over the years.

The previous round has seen the following three songs eliminated;

2017: Elbow – Golden Slumbers

The Michel Gondry-helmed advert features a cover of The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers", performed by the band Elbow. It tells the story of a boy who is afraid of the dark, and a monster named Moz who lives under his bed. Scared of the dark, the boy looks under his bed one night to find that Moz is resting there. Although the child is at first scared, then irritated by the monster's antics, the two very quickly become friends, although the boy quickly begins to become tired in the day due to playing with Moz at night. That Christmas, the child finds a gift under the tree that his family don't seem to recognise. Opening it, he finds a nightlight. When the nightlight is on, he can't see his new friend any more, but once he turns it off, he realises that Moz is still there after all.

Following its premiere, author Chris Riddell accused John Lewis of plagiarizing elements of the advert from his 1986 children's book Mr Underbed. Citing the similar themes of a child befriending a fluffy monster who lived under their bed, he stated that it was "very generous of John Lewis to devote their Christmas advertising campaign to my 1986 picture book... in this age of shrinking publicity budgets". John Lewis defended the accusations, stating that the respective storylines of both works were "utterly different" (with the ad focusing primarily on the friendship between Moz and the child, and Mr Underbed having a child discover other creatures who lived in his room), and that monsters under the bed were a common concept that had been the subject of numerous works. The controversy heightened demand for the book, with copies of Mr Underbed quickly selling out from stores.

2021: Lola Young – Together In Electric Dreams

A boy called Nathan notices an object fall from the sky whilst on a bus. He gets off his bus and runs into the forest to spot a spaceship and an alien called Skye. He runs away before eventually showing her his light up Christmas jumper. He then goes on to show many staples of Christmas; Christmas trees, mince pies, light up displays. Later on, he notices an electromagnetic pulse and runs back to the forest, where he sees Skye about to leave. He gives her his jumper and she kisses him. The advert features a cover of the Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder song "Together in Electric Dreams" by London pub singer Lola Young.

2024: Richard Ashcroft – Sonnet

A woman named Sally goes shopping in a John Lewis on Oxford Street to buy her sister a present for Christmas, where she falls through a rack of dresses and ends up revisiting her sister at various moments during her life to try to figure out what to buy her. The sisters tearfully reconnect after a period of estrangement. The advert features an acoustic version of The Verve's single "Sonnet" by the band's former frontman Richard Ashcroft.

2009: Taken By Trees – Sweet Child o' Mine
2010: Ellie Goulding – Your Song
2011: Slow Moving Millie – Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
2012: Gabrielle Aplin – The Power Of Love
2013: Lily Allen – Somewhere Only We Know
2014: Tom Odell – Real Love
2015: Aurora – Half The World Away
2016: Vaults – One Day I'll Fly Away
2017: Elbow – Golden Slumbers
2018: Elton John – Your Song
2019: Bastille – Can't Fight This Feeling
2020: Celeste – A Little Love
2021: Lola Young – Together In Electric Dreams
2022: Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox feat. Puddles Pity Party – All The Small Things
2023: Andrea Bocelli – Festa
2024: Richard Ashcroft – Sonnet

Here is a Spotify playlist to assist you;



You have around 48 hours for this round before the next round begins. Two more songs will be eliminated. Please select your three least favourite songs from the list above. ^_^

Bastille and Taken By Trees.

The two I'm voting for is Vaults and Elton John.

Vaults and Elton again.

Vaults and Elton

Oof a late surge for Elbow in the last round! Voted for Taken By Trees and Lily again.

 

"London pub singer Lola Young" seems to be doing OK for herself 3 years on!

Taken By Trees and Bastille

Taken by Trees / Celeste

 

Oof a late surge for Elbow in the last round! Voted for Taken By Trees and Lily again.

 

"London pub singer Lola Young" seems to be doing OK for herself 3 years on!

thankfully her actual hit single is a lot better than her version of TIED

Taken By Trees and Gabrielle again, and moving to Bastille for the 3rd vote.

Any final votes for this round?

Tom ODULL