Robbie Williams has defended Olivia Rodrigo amid claims that her new festive song sounds similar to one of his hits.
The Good 4 U singer released her first festive single, Take Me Home (4 Christmas), last week, and many music fans claimed it sounded very similar to Williams’ 2012 hit Candy.
In a lengthy Instagram message on Monday, the British singer insisted he won’t be “going after” Rodrigo over the alleged similarity.
“I love Olivia Rodrigo,” he wrote. “It sounds to me as though she may have accidentally stumbled across a musical echo of mine in one of her new songs. And do you know what? I couldn’t care less.”
He continued, “I don’t know whether there’s technically a publishing issue, a copyright issue, or no issue whatsoever. And I don’t want to know. I’m not going after her. Because I think at some point, some f**king sanity has to prevail.”
The Let Me Entertain You hitmaker noted that there are only “so many” notes and chords in music so someone will “inevitably find (themselves) somewhere somebody else has been”.
“Genuine theft is genuine theft. Artists deserve to be protected,” he stated. “But there’s a difference between protecting your work and treating every vaguely familiar sequence of notes as a winning lottery ticket.”
“We all stand on the shoulders of people who came before us. Sometimes consciously. Sometimes without even knowing it,” Williams continued. “If we keep punishing people for accidentally arriving somewhere somebody else has already been, eventually we’re going to frighten the creativity out of everyone.”
Concluding his post, the Rock DJ singer wrote directly to Rodrigo, adding, “Olivia, if you’re reading this, I think you’re f**king brilliant.”
When Take Me Home (4 Christmas) was released last week, music fans also pointed out its similarity to The Waitresses’ 1981 song Christmas Wrapping.
The song’s writer, Chris Butler, revealed on social media that Rodrigo emailed him about her song about two months ago. He praised her and her festive track, predicting it will be a “smash”.
In the comments, he shut down allegations of plagiarism, writing, “The vibe is there, but no plagiarism – and this is from the guy who wrote CW. LOVE O.R., too. Happy holidays.”
