Olivia Rodrigo's first holiday single, Take Me Home (4 Christmas), echoes The Waitresses' 1981 hit Christmas Wrapping by design. The man who wrote that song says she asked for his permission before releasing it Thursday night.
Chris Butler said in a Facebook post that roughly two months earlier, an email arrived from someone identifying as Rodrigo. The sender said she had written a Christmas song and invited him to listen. Butler admitted he had never heard of her and took the message for a hoax.
Digging into her career changed his mind. He said he became a fan of her music, and also admired that she hired an all-female band and negotiated control of her master recordings. He eventually wrote back and shared that reply publicly.
If you really are Olivia Rodrigo: I like you, I like your music. I like the arrangements especially.
Chris Butler, writer of The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping
Butler did listen to the track. He told his followers it was great and predicted a hit, perhaps even a contender for the UK's annual race for the Christmas number one.
Despite borrowing the new wave and post-punk feel of his band, the single gives Butler no writing credit, because it neither samples nor interpolates his music. Rodrigo said she wrote it last summer with longtime collaborator Dan Nigro and Amy Allen, whose credits include songs for Harry Styles, Sabrina Carpenter and Tate McCrae.
In the song, Rodrigo wants her boyfriend to prove he is serious by taking her to his parents' home over the holiday break. The accompanying video casts Saturday Night Live's Ben Marshall as the unreliable boyfriend and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon as the mother she hopes to call in-law.
Rodrigo faces a crowded field. Sam Fender recorded the Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want for the John Lewis holiday ad, CMAT joined Elton John on a country take of his Step Into Christmas, and Nile Rodgers and Rebecca Ferguson drew criticism for using AI to make the video for their version of The Christmas Song.
The toughest rivals may be the old standbys from Wham and Mariah Carey, which reached the UK Spotify top 10 on Nov. 1, two weeks sooner than a year earlier. Wham claimed the Christmas top spot in 2023 and 2024 and could gain this year as fans observe the 10th anniversary of George Michael's death. Kylie Minogue's XMAS took the honor last year.
