Apple grabbed us right in the feels with this holiday ad, in which Stevie Wonder and protégée Andra Day sing his 1967 hit "Someday at Christmas."
The ad poses as a thoughtful gift to humanity from Apple (and not a gentle push for its Apple Music streaming service). You may also notice that Stevie is using GarageBand and VoiceOver to edit the track as he records it.
Some viewers might be repulsed by the cute wholesomeness of this ad, but it doesn't try nearly as hard as last year's "The Song," which was both a lesson in emotional engineering and a parade of Apple products. The lighter touch this year is better; plenty of other brands will be going for the hard sell between now and Christmas.
Besides, all that other stuff just gets in the way of hearing Stevie Wonder.
