Through much of my teenage years, I worked in retail, listening to the same Top 40 and dreading it every shift. And every year, when November first came around, I would walk into work with open ears, hoping to hear sleigh bells ring and jolly tunes. Because for the only two months of the year, the music on the radio would be different.
Christmas music is sort of like the fast fashion of the music industry. Each year, different artists will try to stake their claim on originality in the genre, and if they’re lucky, that song will gain prevalence once a year and disappear for the next 10 months until the season returns. A jingle bell here, and a mention of snow there, and a Christmas song is born.
While the formula seems easy to nail, no one seems to enjoy its simplicity. But any attempt to reinvent the genre means uprooting the very nature of the tradition. Olivia Rodrigo released her new Christmas Song “take me home (4 christmas),” a fun pop track adding to the endless portfolio of Christmas songs. From fans of Rodrigo and music snobs alike, the song has caught a lot of flak, despite the song’s inoffensive nature and typical conventions of the genre.
Much of the controversy seems to have centred around the song’s similarities to The Waitresses’ 1981 Christmas classic, “Christmas Wrapping.” Listeners quickly accused Rodrigo of plagiarism, pointing to the familiar new-wave sound and vocal delivery. But as it turns out, Rodrigo had actually reached out to the song’s writer, Chris Butler, months before the release.
Butler was more than happy with the homage, saying that when she originally emailed, it was filled with so much “gush” over the band that he thought it had to be fake. Robbie Williams also entered the conversation after listeners drew comparisons between Rodrigo’s song and his 2012 hit “Candy,” defending her against the accusations and encouraging the process in music where musicians inevitably build upon the work of those who came before them.
But the controversy doesn’t end with allegations of plagiarism. Other listeners have criticized the song for not sounding like Christmas music at all, arguing that its production and lyrics feel more like an ordinary Olivia Rodrigo release with the same old holiday aesthetic slapped onto it.
Christmas music seems to be stuck in a cycle of criticism where it can do nothing right, and nothing new can do it any better.
People are shockingly defensive over what qualifies as Christmas music. The songs we know from our childhoods are intertwined with the memories we have from then, and there’s an evocative, irreplaceable warmth they emit.
It’s worth remembering that the Christmas classics we defend so fiercely weren’t always classics. Wham!’s “Last Christmas” was released in 1984, while Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” came out in 1994. Neither song was born nostalgic but it became that way through the traditions of shopping malls and holiday parties.
I, instead, make the case that we should be embracing every Christmas song — the good, the bad, the memorable and the forgettable. I remember, during my first job, tapping the arm of a coworker when their favourite Christmas song from the radio would play, or audibly groaning with a customer when a bad one would.
Springsteen’s live version of “Santa Claus is Comin to Town” always makes me giggle when he monologues at the beginning, and I’m fascinated by the culture that allowed for the prevalence of acapella music in the mainstream through the likes of Pentatonix.
There’s a fun absurdity within the music of the holidays that isn’t allowed any other time of the year. For better or for worse, how else would we get a collaboration between Dolly Parton and Michael Bublé or Ed Sheeran and Elton John?
All this to say, I don’t know if Olivia Rodrigo’s song will make it to next year’s rotation, or if it’s even made it in mine this year. However, I think the opportunity for it to be in anyone’s rotation and rituals is enough of a defence for its existence, and the continual existence of more Christmas music to come.