Elmo tells all: 'Sesame Street' 55th season features SZA, Chris Stapleton, Reneé Rapp and more

[January 10, 2025]  By MARIA SHERMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — Appearing on “Sesame Street”? That's the best idea.

The 55th season of the acclaimed family program features a star-studded lineup of musicians that would be the envy of any summer festival: SZA, Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Reneé Rapp and Samara Joy.

The upcoming season will focus on lessons in emotional well-being. It debuts Jan. 16 on MAX with new episodes releasing every Thursday. “Sesame Street” will also be available on PBS stations and to stream on PBS Kids in the fall.

No one is more excited than Elmo himself.

“There's a lot to learn from music — yeah, timing and harmonies and melody and different styles and different cultures,” the 3 1/2-year-old monster told The Associated Press. “It's really cool! We've got a lot of wonderful people come and do some music with us on ‘Sesame Street,' like Miss Reneé Rapp and SZA! Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Samara Joy — lots of great people!”

Songs double as life lessons on “Sesame Street,” from an alt-R&B-pop track about gratitude with SZA to an acoustic number about feelings with Rapp.

"SZA is really cool — really talented. And ‘gratitude’ was a new word for Elmo, too. So, Elmo learned all about gratitude with SZA,” he said.

"Elmo was feeling really, really happy after his playdate with Miss Reneé. It was a really beautiful song. She's got a great voice and Elmo hopes she comes back soon.”

As for the secret to a great “Sesame Street” song? According to Tony - and Grammy-winning composer, producer and “Sesame Street” music director Bill Sherman, its “earworms on earworms.”

“If the verse is an earworm, so is the chorus. Mostly in pop music, the chorus is the earworm, and the verses are just a bunch of jumble.” The difference, he explains, is that pop songs are about three and a half minutes long. Children's music is about a minute and a half. “You only have a very finite amount of time to do what you got to do.”

Usually, writers on the show provide Sherman and his team of songwriters with a script and lyrics detailing the lesson of each episode, as well as the name of the musical guest. Then they get to work, composing music true to the genre and spirit of each artist.

This image released by Sesame Workshop shows singer SZA, left, with muppet character Oscar the Grouch on the set of "Sesame Street." (Richard Termine/Sesame Workshop via AP)

Those musical guests take different levels of involvement, but the result is always awe-inspiring.

Other highlights from this season include Kahan performing a foot-stomping folk song about music and feelings, Joy using jazz improvisation to teach a lesson in taking turns and a country ode to music and friends courtesy of Stapleton.

“Chris Stapleton really wanted to write his own song,” says Sherman, and so the pair hopped on a Zoom and wrote a song together, Stapleton with his guitar in tow, ideas flowing. “It was really one of the most surreal two-hour Zooms that I really ever had in my life.”

Joy took a different approach. “Samara Joy insisted on singing live," says Sherman. “It very rarely happens on ‘Sesame Street.’ I can only count, like, a few times. So, there was like Stevie Wonder back in the day, which is a classic. And there’s like Billy Joel, there’s John Legend, there’s a couple people that actually sing live. But Samara insisted on it.”

Her reasoning was simple. "She said, ‘Well, this whole episode is about improvisation and thinking on your toes. And so, if it’s prerecorded, that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to teach.’"

If there is a theme that connects all these performances to one another, it's a spirit of connection. At least, that's Elmo's theory: “Elmo thinks that music brings people together, you know? And some people who like some things and some people who like other things can kind of come together because they like the same kind of music. And that's kind of cool!”

“Sesame Street,” designed by education professionals and child psychologists, is shown in more than 150 countries, has won over 200 Emmys, 11 Grammys, two Peabody Awards and received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement, the first time a television program got the award.

There've been no shortage of great musical guests across the show's five decade run. So, who would they like to see pay a visit in the future? “Miss Taylor Swift! Maybe she could revisit her ‘Red’ era?” chimes in Elmo. That's his favorite of her albums.

“But also, Elmo would love to sing with Miss Beyoncé. Destiny's Child was on ‘Sesame Street,’ so Elmo would love to have her back.”

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