the United States. On December 24, 2018, Italian singer-songwriter Tiziano Ferro released a cover of "Secret Santa" to his official Instagram account. The video's caption read: "Times change, but my love and gratitude for [my fans] does not. My friends, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas." Composition and lyrics "Secret Santa" is a romantic Christmas pop ballad. The song's beat contains overlays of an acoustic guitar and castanets arrangements. The production was handled by Busbee and Eric Valentine, the two producers for the entirety of You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Additional instrumentation for the song was provided by a full orchestra, consisting of instruments such as drums, keyboards, trombones, trumpets, strings, violas, and violins. "Secret Santa" was engineered by Valentine and mixed by Dave Clauss. Jonathan Sterling served as assistant engineer whereas Busbee and Dave Way served as lead vocals engineers with assistance from Peter Chun. Laura Mace, Monet Owens, and Dolly Sparks provided background vocals for the track with arrangements from Grace Potter. During the songwriting process, Stefani was determined to create a "classic Christmas carol" that would become a repeat listen year after year; from her sessions with Tranter and Busbee, she created eight original songs, with "Secret Santa" being one of them. Lyrically, the song tells the story of a couple who are preparing to exchange Christmas presents with each other as part of the Secret Santa Christmas tradition, but have decided to complete the swap intimately and at midnight. When interviewed during a Billboard podcast in 2018, Stefani herself described the song as better suited for adults. She said: "['Secret Santa'] sort of reminds me of like a 'Santa Baby' lane ... in the sense of like a little sexy song." Within the chorus, Stefani sings: "Let's play Secret Santa in the dark / Don't tell anybody where we are / There's no limit to the ways that we can celebrate / A midnight gift exchange of heart". Reception Giulia Ciavarelli, from the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, described "Secret Santa" as the perfect Christmas party anthem. In regards to its addition on the deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Ciavarelli suggested that it does not change the album's tone, but rather enriches it. Keith Caulfield and Katie Atkinson, both writers for Billboard, described "Secret Santa" as the exact opposite of the deluxe edition's other new song ("Cheer for the