For those already familiar with “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, the similarities between it and “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” were clear on the first list. Olivia Rodrigo‘s new holiday single had the same detached vocal styling and over a jolly, yet twangy track. It couldn’t just be a coincidence, and it wasn’t.
Internet reactionaries (some of whom may be fans of a perceived rival of the pop star) jump straight to plagiarism as an explanation, a charge that Rodrigo has faced before and one that has become somewhat of a theme among this year’s Grammys hopefuls like Olivia Dean and Stella Lefty.
The difference in the case of Rodrigo and “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” is that wasn’t caught in anything. The similarities between the two holiday songs were intentional, and the singer made no attempt to obscure the new track’s creative origins. In fact, she had reached out to the writer of “Christmas Wrapping,” Waitresses member Chris Butler,” ahead of the single’s release to share both her appreciate of his creation and the song it inspired.
In the aftermath of the accusations, Butler took to social media to defend Rodrigo and helpfully explain the difference between homage and plagiarism. “Mmmm. Can’t © a ‘vibe’,” he wrote. “Her song
has no copy of ‘CW’s melody/chord progression/nothing to justify a claim.”
The factors that Butler lays out are precisely where Dean and Lefty could be perceived to have misstepped. A lawsuit filed by Mattie Music Group, which controls Bill Withers’ catalog, alleges substantial melodic similarities between Dean’s “I’ve Seen It” and “Just the Two of Us.” Dean herself is not named as a defendant. Lefty also drew criticism after distancing herself from Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” despite having previously covered the song on TikTok.
But even with those controversies, there hasn’t been much differentiation between the three acts in Grammy nomination predictions. Following their respective controversies, none of the three acts appears to have suffered a major setback in the predictions. Rodrigo and Dean remain leading contenders in major categories, though those percentages reflect predicted nominations, not winner odds. Lefty sits.
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