Posted by Emily Exton on 11/15/2011 at 7:41 PM News

The Popdust Files: casey abrams, christmas, glee, haley reinhart, holidays, john legend, justin bieber, mariah carey

We are nine days away from Thanksgiving, which means we are 10 days away from it being socially acceptable to play holiday music in public. Or at the very least, from the humble confines of a work computer, through very, very loud headphones. You can continue to get a head start on building that playlist solely made up of holiday jams from 2011 alone, thanks to a steady stream of releases from pop acts and former reality stars. American Idol season 10 contestant Haley Reinhart has recorded a duet with her former reality hopeful Casey Abrams, and the classical flirty “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Reinhart scored a deal with Interscope back in July, while Abrams has apparently being working hard on maintaining his beard since the Idol tour wrapped at the end of the summer, yet somehow both found the time to film a goofy video that’s equal parts studio time—they’re serious about their careers!—as well as jazzy performances where Casey can remind us of his skills on the upright bass. Please no one tell Steven Tyler that Haley’s wearing red. Watch the video below.

Along with this revisiting her holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” with Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey has a timely track of her own to celebrate this year. “When Christmas Comes,” updated from her 2010 holiday album Merry Christmas II You, is now a duet with John Legend that features the latter and his usual way of seducing the listener through an abundance of piano riffs and smooth vocals, and Carey reinforcing the fact that she’s returned to fighting shape by scaling to the highest of notes. Between this and the additional ubiquity the Bieber collaboration will give her, Mimi is on par to have a very happy holiday season. We hope Roc and Roe have properly matching winter attire for all the requisite promotional appearances that will follow.