Key Takeaways
- “Santa SMiZE” introduces a new holiday character tied to Tyra Banks’ SMiZE & Dream brand.
- The song’s narrative centers on Kelly, a girl from the South Pole with a magical gift for snow-made ice cream.
- Tyra Banks uses music, storytelling, and branding to expand her holiday-themed creative universe.
Tyra Banks is stepping into the holiday season with a mission, and she’s aiming high. The supermodel released her new Christmas track, “Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE,” on Thursday (Dec. 4), adding a burst of dance-floor energy to the season. And yes, she knows she’s walking into Mariah Carey’s territory — and she’s embracing it.
In a Page Six exclusive, the 52-year-old joked that she’s not trying to dethrone the icon behind “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” “We will never dethrone the queen of Christmas,” she told the outlet of Carey. “She is the queen. ‘Santa Smize’ is the princess.”
The pop-forward song leans into everything that makes Banks who she is now. The title nods to the “smile with your eyes” advice she coined on “America’s Next Top Model,” and the lyrics blend her humor, love of storytelling, and over-the-top creativity. In an interview with PEOPLE, Banks said the song’s world-building is intentionally wild, explaining, “I want everybody laughing.”
The track is written from the perspective of Santa SMiZE, a character from her SMiZE & Dream ice cream universe. The Life-Size actress told PEOPLE that she wanted to “rewrite the story of Christmas,” crafting a narrative about Kelly, a girl from the South Pole whose talent for snow-made ice cream was nearly erased by a jealous friend named Claus. The fictional twist: to free her from the ice, someone finally had to say, “Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE.”
Throughout the track, Banks squeezes in dance cues, global dessert shoutouts, and even nods to Life-Size. "I was trying to create a classic. Who knows? It's not for me to create that classic. It's for me to write it and put it into the world and see," she added. "I'm not a singer. I'm not a recording artist, but hopefully people will be inspired by 'shine bright, shine far, don't be shy, be a star' and say, 'She sang something before!'"
Tyra Banks’ sweet new chapter with SMiZE & Dream
In June, Banks opened her SMiZE & Dream ice cream shop in Sydney, Australia — a tribute to her mom and their weekly Häagen-Dazs bonding nights during her early modeling days. She later went viral for inventing “hot ice cream,” a warm, sippable dessert she’s bringing to New York City on Dec. 10 along with the premiere of the “Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE” music video.