Alex Rawls

With her new album “Christmas,” Cher joins the long list of artists kicking off the holiday season before it’s even Halloween.

This year’s newly announced class of inductees has ignited the familiar debate about who “deserves” a place in the Hall and who’s just getting in on popularity. Don’t overthink it.

If there’s one artist who could surprise everyone by triumphing over Beyoncé and Adele in the Album of the Year race, this would be it.

It was just crowned the most disliked Christmas song, but two sequels to “Santa Baby” lay out a vision of female sensuality as currency that may change people’s minds.