Alexa & a-cappella combine in a worldwide first

Amazon employees partnered with the virtual assistant Alexa to wish customers a happy new year in four-part harmony. From the About Amazon blog:

Did you know? There are Amazonians who spend their workdays dreaming up fun surprises for owners of the Echo and our other Alexa-enabled devices. These employees are the reason Alexa is ready when you say, "Alexa, tell me a joke" or "Alexa, sing a song."

With 2018 approaching, they came up with the idea of finding Alexa some backup singers — an a cappella group to sing the harmonies on the New Year's Eve classic "Auld Lang Syne." So they reached out to the engineers, executive assistants, managers, and other Amazon employees who sing together under the name Vocally Self Critical, and a first-of-its-kind collaboration was born.