FEATURE:
Where Love Lives
IN THIS PHOTO: Alison Limerick holds a vinyl copy of her iconic 1990 single, Where Love lives, which is the central focus of this year’s acclaimed John Lewis Christmas advert (and has been reworked by artist/producer, Labrinth). Limerick said (of the honour): “I squealed when I heard that Where Loves Lives would be in the advert – literally squealed like an excited child”)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
In Reaction to This Year’s John Lewis Christmas Advert
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IT is a bit of an event each year…
PHOTO CREDIT: John Lewis/PA/iStock/The Independent
when we start seeing the Christmas adverts on T.V. Starting about now, all the major supermarkets put theirs out. Although not as utilitarian or ‘grounded’ as other chains, John Lewis are more upmarket. However, that is not to dimmish the importance of their Christmas adverts. There have been some great ones through the years. I am not sure whether it brings more people into one of their stores. However, it always provokes reaction and conversation. You can see every John Lewis Christmas advert aired. You can find a rankings list here. I am going to start out with some critical reaction to this year’s advert. One that I think is their very best in years. I am not really a fan of Christmas adverts and rarely succumb to the tear-jerking charm and allure. However, this year’s offering not only hits all the right emotional buttons. It shows positive masculinity between a father and son. It also, importantly, gets the music choice just right. One of the downsides of John Lewis Christmas adverts is how there are often syrupy and quite characterless cover version of well-known songs. If the foreground and film itself is superb, I feel like the musical choice is often a little drippy and a bit too sickly-sweet. That cliché of Pop versions of classics washes out the colour and purpose of the original. However, this year brings Alison Limerick’s Where Love Lives into focus. John Lewis members can actually buy a limit edition version of the single on vinyl. All profits generated from its sale will support the John Lewis Partnership’s Building Happier Futures programme, which aids individuals who have grown up in care. That is something you want to support! The moment that the dad received a vinyl copy of this song – clearly one that means a lot to him – is simple but effective. You can see the advert below.
The reaction to the advert has, for the most part, being positive. For someone like me – who grew up listening to amazing music like Where Love Lives and it is my sort of era (well, I was a child when it came out but it was a song I played a lot and love to this day) -, I can connect with the song and its meaning. It is that thoughtful gift and moment. Good Housekeeping noted in their review:
“Well, you can get the baubles out because the ad has landed and it's a celebration of music – namely, the 1990s club ‘banger’, Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick, which provides the soundtrack, and transforms into a new, slowed-down version by Labrinth.
It's also a tribute to father/son relationships.
Whereas last year's ad focused on two sisters, the stars of the John Lewis Christmas ad 2025 are a father and his teenage son. At the start, you see the dad tidying up under the tree and discovering a present that was missed in all the Christmas chaos.
His son watches anxiously as he unwraps his gift – a vinyl record – which immediately transports the dad back to his clubbing days. We then see snippets of his relationship with his son over the years (the shots of the boy as a baby and toddler running to his dad are real tearjerkers, as is the hug at the end).
PHOTO CREDIT: John Lewis/PA/iStock
The story of a son looking forward to his dad's reaction to his gift also feels like a bit of a throwback to many people's favourite John Lewis ad ever, The Long Wait – the one with the little boy who just can't wait to give his present on Christmas Day.
The message? If you can't quite find the words, choosing just the right gift will say it for you. The theme was inspired by research that found we struggle as a nation to say what we really mean, but Christmas is a time when we try to reconnect.
This year's ad also reflects the the fact that 1990s and 2000s children have grown up and now have families of their own, so we're now seeing the Millennial Christmas, with all the traditions and tunes that come with that.
This one goes out to the 90s club kids”.
Even though I bemoaned the slowed-down version of classics before, usually a piano version that is quite a lot to take in, we do get that happening in this year’s advert. Actually, last year’s advert featured Richard Ashcroft’s Sonnet. Look at the songs used in all of their adverts, and there have been a lot of more ‘saccharine’ (others might find a more appropriate word) versions of well-known songs. A hallmark for John Lewis, I guess they have to keep with traditional and speak to their customers. The Guardian were a bit more cynical with their opinion of John Lewis’s new Christmas advert. One that came out early than last year’s:
“Meanwhile, the advert perfectly captures a very common moment of fatherhood. I’m talking, of course, about the time you decide to go clubbing, only to realise that since having a child you’ve become horrifically old and decrepit and that, to all the young people around you, you now basically represent the creeping spectre of death, and you’re suddenly hit by the realisation of how ancient you are, and you go home depressed and never attempt anything fun or exciting again until you die.
And then anyone under the age of 20 will take something else from the advert. That is: what the hell does any of this mean? It’s a film about someone buying a vinyl record from a bricks and mortar shop, that’s being shown on linear broadcast television? Why? Why go to all this bother? Why doesn’t the son just play him the song on Spotify? Why doesn’t he type ‘Where Love Lives’ into TikTok and give his dad the gift of an algorithmically generated feed of some Russian children lip-syncing to it? Wouldn’t that be easier?
PHOTO CREDIT: John Lewis/PA/iStock
Honestly, to Gen Z or younger, this whole thing must be like watching a highly commended entry from an obsolete technology competition. You know what? Next year, why not go even further? Why not release the John Lewis advert as a phénakisticope about a farmer trading a goat for a sack of stubble turnips? It couldn’t possibly be any more of an anachronism than this.
But maybe I’m being cynical. There’s still a romance to clinging on to traditions that are no longer useful. A tangible record will always be more special than an online stream. Visiting a shop will always be more special than clicking an object on a website. There’s something reassuring in the way that we’re still discussing a television commercial. And we’re doing it via the medium of print journalism, the most obsolescent technology of them all. Merry Christmas everyone!”.
The version of Where Love Lives is reimagined by Labrinth this year. It will give attention to that version but, more than anything, it will draw a different and younger generation to the original. Missing out on the song the first time around – it was released in 1990 -, it will compel parents to discuss the song with their children. The Independent shared the products featured in the John Lewis advert and lauded its sentiment. At its best this year, I have seen so much positive reaction:
“The UK’s equivalent to Hallmark movies, the John Lewis Christmas TV advert has finally arrived – officially marking the start of the festive period. After last year’s lukewarm reception, the stalwart is back to form with a tearjerking tale of a father and son bond, set to a nostalgic soundtrack.
The advert has introduced us to plenty of memorable characters over the years (including Buster the bouncing dog and Edgar the excitable dragon), but the 2025 addition has a more grown-up feel. On Christmas Day, a dad walk sadly past his son who has headphones in. While cleaning up the discarded wrapping under the tree, he discovers a gift from his son addressed to him.
Inside, it’s a vinyl of a nineties dance track that floods him with memories of his youth spent clubbing. Across the dance floor, he spots his son who transforms into a toddler, then a newborn baby in his arms. Marking the passing of time and the power of music, the heartwarming ending sees father and son embracing by the Christmas tree.
The songs in John Lewis’ Christmas advert always make the music charts (see Lily Allen cover Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know and Elton John singing Your Song). This year, the 1990s dance icon Alison Limerick’s Where Love Lives is reimagined by Labrinth”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Labrinth remarked how being involved in the John Lewis Christmas advert is a ‘big deal’/PHOTO CREDIT: Ian West/PA Media Assignments/PA Wire
Alison Limerick revealed that her iconic song was never intended for release. Even though I am not completely taken by Labrinth’s cover version of the song, it is not used in a lot of the album and is actually one of the best (or least forgettable and annoying) cover versions in recent years. I have hears cover version of Where Love Lives, and it is good to slow the song down and reveal more emotional layers. However, maybe the fade from the hypotonic and dancefloor-uniting smash into the ballad-y and Folk-Pop (if that is the right genre-melt?) is quite abrupt and does not quite hit the landing! However, it is amazing that John Lewis have featured this thirty-five-year-old smash that is still widely played to this day but might not be known to children and teens. The advert is shot brilliantly, and I love the cut between the dad unwrapping the gift and then being transported into the club as his older self and dancing alongside younger club-goers. Words do not have to be spoken between the father and son. It is a tender moment that says enough on its own. Many have noted how it promotes positive masculinity. In a landscape where toxic masculinity and male violence dominates, it is a much-needed dose of positivity. Some might say it not so huge, given John Lewis adds are often very sensitive, family-based and have that warmth. Something feels more urgent and different this year. The advert sees the dad holding his son as a baby and toddler, and then we see him (the son) coming down the stairs, and the two sharing a look before embracing.
It is an intriguing advert! At the very start, the son has headphones on and looks quite nervous, as the dad finds the present (as the rest have been opened and cleared up) and the sister looks on. I wonder how the son knew about that track and why it means a lot to his dad. Many have noted how hard it is to get a copy of Where Love Lives on vinyl! Maybe there was this evening where the father was discussing his younger days when he was in clubs in the early-1990s and fell for this song. Perhaps not always an open and easy relationship between the two; the music itself and the memories it holds (for the dad) broke a barrier and evoked a happier time. Content with his family, it was a blast of nostalgia that will resonate with people like me. That idea of the power of music from our childhood and youth and how it not only remains in our hearts but never ages. I want to finish with an interview with Alison Limerick from almost exactly a decade ago. Limerick was asked about her relationship with a song that, at this point was a quarter-century old:
“Latti Kronlund wrote ‘Where Love Lives’ and famously picked you to record it – why you?
At the time I was involved with this glorified fashion show at the ICA in London which involved singers, jugglers and other performers rather than models. I sang ‘God Bless The Child’ [Billie Holiday’s 1941 classic] and Latti was in the audience. He apparently told people afterwards that he absolutely had to work with me but it took him six months to connect because the ICA, being security-minded, wouldn’t give him my number. We worked on three or four songs which, to be honest, were really odd and abstract, and then he disappeared off to Sweden for ages. Latti eventually returned with another five songs, one of which was ‘Where Love Lives’. He told me that that was my song to sing because it required someone with a big two-octave range, and I had it.
Do you keep in touch with Latti?
I do and we have something really special planned for [21] January. He’ll be playing Ronnie Scott’s in London with his ‘big band’ Brooklyn Funk Essentials, and he’s asked me to join him for a one-off twist on ‘Where Love Lives’. It’ll be the first time we’ve ever performed the track live together, and after all these years. It’s a fantastic song…such an amazing shock to see what it has become.
It’s become your life in so many respects – truly, what’s your relationship with it like these days?
There was one point a few years ago where I was upset about it; upset that it would define me regardless of whatever else I did. But ‘Where Love Lives’ turned me into a focused artist after years spent as a jobbing singer, dancer and actress. And when I see people reacting to it that’s always genuinely amazing. More so now, when those people are not just of the older club generations but the new ones too…the twenty-somethings. When you’re live they are always new ways to sing a classic song like that and keep it fresh. A few years ago I was probably playing around with it too much and taking it too far away from what the fans recognised. So now I keep it a little more controlled and enjoy the atmosphere I’m creating. I hear a few DJs have been playing it at Glitterbox to some great reactions this summer. I’m really looking forward to performing the classic version there in person soon. Can’t wait!”.
If some have been bah humbug or ho-hum about this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, most have been very positive. Often seen as the best Christmas adverts on T.V., there is this high standard to uphold. However, Jonh Lewis have hit all the right notes and made a step forward. I think the slightly less overt stripping back of a slowed-down and syrupy cover is a necessary move. That choice of story and central song is inspired, timely and not obvious. They could have gone with an Oasis song or cashed in and played it safe. However, by going slightly more underground – or at least embraced a genre they have not before -, it has captured attention and greater discussion. Great music, memories, father-son bond and positivity to the fore. Something as primitive and simple as a musical memory, it incredibly powerful and resonates with everyone. The Guardian asked their readers what Dance track they would gift to their teenager. We can identify with that advert in some form and all have songs and time periods we flash back to and cherish. It will bring attention to Alison Limerick’s Where Love Lives, but also record players and headphones. Basically, as there are music items involved, I was keen to cover the advert for that reason alone. If some feel the new advert is a bit corny, I think John Lewis have achieved a…
PERFECT blend and balance.