// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Olivia Rodrigo's Christmas song sounds familiar... on purpose
The star's Christmas song follows the release of her chart-topping third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo unwrapped her first-ever Christmas song on Thursday night, alongside a festive music video starring Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon.
The track, called Take Me Home (4 Christmas), finds the pop star asking her boyfriend to "show some serious commitment" by bringing her to his parents' house for the Christmas break.
As soon as it was released, fans noticed similarities to The Waitresses' 1981 festive hit Christmas Wrapping... And it turns out that was by design rather than mistake.
Chris Butler, who wrote The Waitresses' song, posted a message on Facebook, external, saying Rodrigo had contacted him to seek permission for the song; and praising her "phenomenal" writing.
"About two months ago, I received a weird email from someone claiming to be 'Olivia Rodrigo'," he said. "Said she'd written a Christmas song, and invited me to hear it."
Admitting he'd never heard of the pop star before, Butler said he assumed the email was a fake.
But after researching her career, he became a fan - not just of her music, but of the fact she'd hired an all-female band, and negotiated control of her master recordings.
The Waitresses emerged from New York's fertile new wave / post-punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In the end, he decided to reply to her email - and posted the text to his Facebook profile.