Tyra Banks Brings Holiday Magic With ‘Santa SMiZE’ Song

Tyra Banks is known for runways, reality TV, and that unforgettable fierce stare. But this holiday season, she wants the world to meet a brand new character who just happens to shake up everything we thought we knew about Christmas. Say hello to Santa SMiZE.

To celebrate her 52nd birthday on Thursday, Dec. 4, the SMiZE & Dream founder released a festive dance song called "Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE." It is bold, funny, and packed with imagination. In a chat with PEOPLE, Banks shared the fun, the madness and the deep story behind the track.

"You think you know Christmas? Do you really, though?" asks Banks at the top of the high-energy song performed from the perspective of Santa SMiZE, the first character from the world of her SMiZE & Dream ice cream brand. "I want everybody laughing," she told PEOPLE.

And laughing seems to be the whole point.

"Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE" is a three and a half minute dance track built for holiday parties. It pulls from different styles, includes a section inspired by the "Cha Cha Slide," and even calls out moves for everyone in the room.

From grandmothers trying the Dutty Wine to stepmoms doing the robot, the song gives everyone a moment in the spotlight.

"If I'm going to get up and dance and be crazy, I love it when I see the person that says, 'I'm not going to get up,' get up," says Banks. "We all have the uncle, the cousin, the somebody that's just going to start the fight, that's going to start the argument, that's going to say the wrong thing or whatever it is. I wanted to create this moment where everybody is just laughing and crazy together."

Banks said she was aiming for something timeless.

"I was trying to create a classic. Who knows? It's not for me to create that classic. It's for me to write it and put it into the world and see," she told the outlet. "I'm not a singer. I'm not a recording artist, but hopefully people will be inspired by 'shine bright, shine far, don't be shy, be a star' [from 2000's Life Size] and say, 'She sang something before!'"

The song is fun on the surface, but beneath the catchy beat is a full fantasy story. According to Banks, Santa SMiZE is actually a girl named Kelly who lived hundreds of years ago in the South Pole.

Kelly was famous for making delicious ice cream out of snow. She became a performer, and her friend Claus was her backup singer and dancer. But fame changed things.

"But he started to get a little jealous because she was getting all this attention," she said.

Kelly dreamed of delivering her ice cream to people all around the world on what we now call Christmas. But jealousy took over. Claus locked her behind ice, stole her signature yellow suit, flipped it inside out to show the red lining, and turned it into his own look. Then he moved to the North Pole and became Santa Claus.

Meanwhile, Kelly stayed frozen and forgotten.

All these years later, her release depends on a magic phrase. "For her to be released, it's kind of like Beetlejuice, you have to say, 'Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE,'" explained Banks.

That moment finally happens when a young girl in America learns to say Santa during a family photo shoot, prompted by her sister to smize, meaning to smile with your eyes.

Now, as Banks puts it simply, "It's 2025, and she's back."

Banks did not take a quick or casual approach to writing the song. She went old school with pen and paper and filled the track with lyrics, references and ideas.

"My engineer and producer, he's like, 'Girl, this is a lot of lyrics,'" she says. "Our creative director, who also worked on the song, he's like, 'You have a beautiful mind. It's a little weird. You know your paper looks crazy, right?'"

Banks admits she felt the same way at times.

"I'm like, 'What's happening to me? I think I am going crazy,'" she recalls.

Still, that creative rush is part of what made the song feel so alive.

Along with dance instructions and Christmas themes, the song also celebrates global treats. Banks name checks desserts like haluhalo from the Philippines and bingsu from South Korea.

"I want people to feel seen and cultures to feel like, 'Damn, wait, homegirl knows what bingsu is,'" she said.

She credits her modeling career for inspiring that part of the song.

"I feel really fortunate in my modeling career to have traveled the world, been to a lot of places and experienced desserts and tastes and things that are still not viral," explained Banks. "And so I was like, 'I want to name check familiar desserts and some desserts that are not familiar in the bridge.'"

Banks knows the song can be taken in many ways. Some listeners will just dance. Others will dig into the hidden details.

"Not everybody's got to go deep, but for the person that's going to go deep, honey, I got all kind of Easter eggs," she said.

More than anything, she is excited to be telling stories again.

"A lot of people know me as a model, but I got discovered to be a model when I was on my way to college to be a writer and producer for television and film," she said. "So, I'm only returning back to my roots."

With "Santa SMiZE, Santa SMiZE," Tyra Banks is not just adding another holiday song to the season. She is creating a whole new Christmas legend, one dance move, dessert and laugh at a time.