John Legend has finally addressed the excessive backlash he and his fellow coach on The Voice , Kelly Clarkson, have been receiving over their rendition of “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
He wants to clarify that just because they recorded a revised version of the song, doesn’t mean you can’t still listen to the old one.
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As you’ve probably already heard, “The Voice” coaches, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend decided to take a stab at recreating the classic Christmas tune, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.
However, their rendition of the track was really not well-received…
The version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” that we’re all familiar with, sang by Dean Martin, as you may recall, was ripped from the airwaves last year after people suddenly noticed how creepy the lyrics are.
While we can’t actually confirm what the song was originally written about all those years ago, nowadays, some argue that the lyrics are a nod to rape culture.
Here are some of the lyrics that are considerably shifty:
“My mother will start to worry (beautiful what’s your hurry?)”
“But maybe just a half a drink more (put some records on while I pour)”
“Say, what’s in this drink? (no cabs to be had out there)”
While it’s very possible the song was meant to be playful and harmless, it’s safe to say it hasn’t aged well.
So, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson decided to make a version of the song that some people may feel more comfortable listening to.
The new lyrics go like this:
“What will my friends think (I think they should rejoice)”
“If I have one more drink? (It’s your body, and your choice)”
“I really can’t stay (Baby it’s cold outside)”
“I’ve gotta go away (I can call you a ride.)”
Understandably, John and Kelly probably thought their version of the song would receive praise since so many people seemed to have an issue with the old one.
But on the contrary…
They received an overwhelming amount of backlash.
One of their biggest critics was talk show host Sharon Osbourne.
On an episode of The Talk , Sharon said, “What would John Legend do, if in 40 years, if somebody wanted to… re-record one of his songs, and there was some group that found it offensive, and somebody just went, ‘Oh, I can change the lyrics on that.'”
“It’s, to me, like a master painting,” Osbourne argued. “It’s a piece of art.”
“To change an innocent lyric, to what is it, ‘Your mind and your body?’ What the hell are you on? That’s ridiculous,” she said.
“I have to tell you, I love John Legend.”
“I love John Legend’s wife, his family. He’s an amazing artist that I really respect. Why do you do this? That’s not right,” Osbourne went on.
“The thing is, if you don’t like the song, don’t record it.”
Osbourne wasn’t the only famous name to not approve of the changes — Dean Martin’s daugther, Deana Martin, called the new version of the song “absolutely absurd.”
“He should write his own song if he doesn’t like this one, but don’t change the lyrics.”
“It’s a classic, perfect song,” she said on Good Morning Britain.
Now that the dust has mostly settled, both Kelly and John have spoken up about the criticism they’ve gotten.
“Did you not hear that John and I ruined Christmas recently?,” Kelly said on The Kelly Clarkson Show . “I was like, ‘How did I mess that up?”
“John had this idea . . . Both John and I have cut the original, we like the original, but we noticed that a lot of people didn’t,” she explained.
“So we were like, ‘Let’s give them another option, and apparently we killed Christmas!”
“The original doesn’t even offend me,” Kelly added. “I just was like, ‘Cool, we’ll do another version.'”
In an interview with People , John said his piece as well.
“First of all, there’s no side to be on,” he said.
“It’s just another version of the song. If you don’t wanna listen to it, you don’t have to.”
He pointed out to those that are up in arms over their remake of the song, that just because they recorded their version doesn’t mean the original no longer exists.
If you have a problem with John and Kelly’s version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, you can always listen to the original one instead, just as easily.
“No one’s saying you can’t listen to the old version.”
And furthermore, no one is saying you have to listen to the new version either.
“Those versions all exist. People make new versions of songs all the time and we thought it’d be fun to update the song and make it more current.”
“We wanted a comedic angle to it so I asked Natasha Rothwell from ‘Insecure’ to be my co-writer on it,” he explained .
“She came up with so many funny ideas and we used so much of it and made a brand new version.”
“One that’s kind of updated for now. And we had a lot of fun making it.”
Listen to John Legend and Kelly Clarkson’s remake of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” here:
Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Do you prefer the old lyrics? Or the new ones?
