-Welcome home! -Thank you. Are you sick of me?
-I am not -- I want you -- This should be, like, your home.
I love that -- I just -- We are big fans of you here.
But you always go for it. And thank you so much
for being here. You look fantastic.
Happy holidays. -Thank you so much. You too.
-I want to talk to you about "Jingle Bell Rock."
But I want to talk to you about your first group.
I didn't know you were in a group.
-[ Laughs ] Well, I mean, it wasn't a group.
-Yeah, yeah.
-But it was like -- My cousins and I had a little girl band.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.
We didn't perform -- You want the name?
-Yeah, of course I know the name.
I want to hear the whole story. -Oh, my gosh, yeah.
-I want to know the story -- the history about The Lilacs.
-Yes! -[ Laughter ]
The Lilacs was, like, a group that my cousins and I formed.
Then we like -- We performed very small venues.
Just, like, you know, my living room,
my family's living room.
-Oh, wow, yeah. -Yeah, yeah.
-Those two living rooms. -Yeah, we had no recordings.
It was strictly live music. And, yeah, so we had --
-What type of music was The Lilacs?
-It was like -- like pop.
Like, singer-songwriter pop. Some rap even.
It was, like, very expansive. Yeah, it was really --
Yeah, versatile. -How many cousins?
How many people in your family was involved?
-It was me and then my three other cousins.
So it was four of us. It was a group of four.
-Wow. -Very eclectic group.
We had one -- one, like, big single or something.
-Do you remember what your single was?
-Yeah. It was called "We Are The Lilacs."
-[ Laughter ] -It was, like, to introduce --
-Yeah, of course.
-The album was the same title, of course.
-Yeah. Did you make an album?
-We made a fake album. So we, like -- We, like,
skinned, like, a CD that was already existing.
And we, like, put, like, a -- We made one --
like, a cover out of construction paper.
-And drawing? -Yeah, we didn't have a CD.
But we thought it was, like, the coolest thing.
We're like, "We have an album. This is so cool."
But there were no recordings of it.
-"We Are The Lilacs." -"We Are The Lilacs." Yeah.
♪ We are The Lilacs, and together we are one ♪
♪ We can do anything ♪
♪ So come on, let's have some fun ♪
-[ Cheers and applause ] -Wow! You know it!
You know it. -[ Laughter ]
-Do I -- Yeah, exactly. Now, did they have --
The Lilacs -- did they have a big break-up?
Or did they have a...? -No, actually.
Technically we're, like, still, I guess, kind of ongoing.
'Cause we never had a break-up. It's like the longest --
-Running female group of all time.
-Of all time. Yeah.
-Well, if they ever want to come back
together and reunite on our show,
we would love to have The Lilacs come on our show.
-Oh, my God. Thank you. Absolutely. We would love that.
By popular demand.
-Yeah, but -- When you were first
starting out, probably pre-Lilacs,
you didn't want to sing for anyone.
You were too shy. -Yeah, yeah.
That was, like, ongoing for a really long time.
-Even your mom and everybody?
-Yeah, my mom, my parents. It was, like, a whole thing.
I remember the first time I sang for my mom,
which was the first time I sang for anybody.
I, like, made her turn around, close her eyes.
And then I went into my shoe closet and closed the door.
It was the only way I would sing for her.
And everyone had to close their eyes, like, on the outside,
even though I was in the closet.
-And then she just -- Your mom would be like,
"Okay, I'm just going to listen to you"?
Or "I'm going to support this"? -Yeah.
She was the one who, like, kind of -- not pushed me,
because I always wanted to do it.
But she knew I that I was shy, but that I wanted to.
So she would kind of nudge me at, like, family gatherings
being like, "Why don't you, you know, sing something?"
-Yeah. -So, I feel like -- Yeah.
She was very -- She played a huge role
in getting me out there,
which was nice. -And now here you are.
You're not only singing, but you're also acting.
But I want to talk about "Jingle Bell Rock,"
first of all. Congrats.
Can we play a little bit of Alessia Cara's
"Jingle Bell Rock"?
-♪ Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock ♪
-Just puts you in a good mood, right?
That's on Amazon Music right now.
Why "Jingle Bell Rock"?
-[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you very much.
Well, 'cause, I mean, I tend to, like, gravitate
towards, like, super melancholic songs, you know?
And Christmas songs tend to be, like, a little bit sad.
But this one -- It felt like it was really jolly and happy.
And it's kind of what we all need.
But also the real reason, secretly, that I wanted to it
is because I wanted to sing the line,
"Giddy-up, jingle horse."
'Cause --
-It just makes you laugh? -It makes me laugh.
Like, what is a jingle horse?
I have no idea. -I have no idea, yeah.
But giddy-up. Hey, jingle horse, let's go!
Yeah. No one knows what that is. -Yeah.
What is a jingle -- I don't know.
-Let's just have fun. But you're going to be on NBC's
"A Christmas in Rockefeller Center,"
that special, with all of these --
-Yeah! -Harry Connick Jr.
I mean, it's a big deal.
Will you be performing "Jingle Bell Rock"?
-Yes, I will.
And my own Christmas song, "Make It To Christmas," as well,
which is really exciting. -I mean -- Wow.
-[ Cheers and applause ] -I love it.
Not only do you like Christmas music,
but you also like Christmas movies.
You sent me a very cute photo, which I love.
-I had to send you this. -It's so cute.
This is your dog Cleo watching my special
"Five More Sleeps" the other night.
-Yeah. Look at her.
This is literally like two nights ago.
She was fascinated by the dog.
That just goes to show how good the animation is.
'Cause she thought it was real. -Thought it was a real dog.
-Yeah. It was so cute.
My dad was just watching it, like, for leisure.
He loves you, so he was, like, watching it.
And she was, like, fascinated.
-That's so cute. Thank you for this.
-So I had to send you that. No problem. It's so cute.
-I almost want you to sign this one.
Let's talk about "Yearly Departed."
This will be on Amazon Prime Video next month.
They've done this -- They did this last year.
Can you explain a little about what it is
and how you were involved? -Yeah.
So "Yearly Departed" -- Yeah, like you said,
it's the second year that they're doing this.
And it's basically like a show that's sort of
like a memorial for the year prior.
Almost like you're attending a funeral of the year
that has passed, you know? -Yes.
-It's like, you know -- There's some comedic relief.
It's very funny. There's, like, great female comedians.
All female cast. -Chelsea Peretti, I love.
-Yeah, and Jane Fonda, which was incredible.
Like, so cool. -Jane Fonda's in --
-Yeah, she's in this! This is wild.
Yeah, so you kind of just -- Everyone gets a moment to speak
and we just, like, talk about the year that passed
and all the things that died in the last year.
-Did you get to hang out with Jane Fonda?
-No. I didn't.
-[ Laughter ] -I know. I didn't.
-She's so cool. -She's the coolest ever.
But, like, I kind of didn't really get to
meet a lot of the people 'cause you're kind of --
It's in a setting, like a church setting.
So you're in pews, so you just kind of
see the back of everybody's heads.
-How was the back of Jane Fonda's head?
-Wonderful. -Yeah. It's the coolest.
-Yeah, the coolest. -It's Jane Fonda.
-Yeah. The coolest.
-I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Alessia Cara in "Yearly Departed."
Take a look at this.
-I am going to vow to stay hydrated.
Hello. Moisturized.
And apparently BFFs with Jane Fonda,
'cause she looks amazing.
-[ Cheers ] -I'm gonna relax.
-I'm gonna be rich and married!
-And I'm gonna go platinum again.
-Oh, my gosh. Alessia Cara?
-Hey, Avon. Love all of this.
-Girl, we're about to do an in memoriam.
You have to sing. -Yeah!
-No -- No. I wouldn't want to...intrude.
-Mnh-mnh. Stop it. I insist.
-No -- I really -- I couldn't.
-Girl, I ain't gonna beg you.
[ Laughter ]
-Cut to -- -Oh, yeah.
-[ Cheers and applause ] -Alessia Cara, everybody!
"Yearly Departed" comes to Prime Video December 23rd.
You can stream her cover of "Jingle Bell Rock"
now on Amazon Music.