Controversial Christmas Song Gets A Rework By Two Major Stars

In the wake of last year's #MeToo movement, people started to look and listen to things through a very different filter than in years past. And one major example of how that  began to have an affect on entertainment content, like music and movies, was the backlash that came last Christmas over the song "Baby It's Cold Outside."

Originally written in the 1940s as a cute duet for a husband and wife to perform at holiday parties, as people started to put the filter of 2018 on it, many found it to be more malicious and creepy than jovial and jocular. Some folks went as far as to call for the holiday classic to be pulled off the airwaves because of it's lyrics pertaining to using alcohol as a method of coercion and the allusion of a lack of consent on the part of the female's character.

But others thought the tune, which is very familiar (thanks to Holiday movies like "Elf") could still be a holiday classic, if the lyrics could be updated to reflect the times.

Enter power-piano crooner John Legend.

According to a recent article by Vanity Fair, he has "updated the lyrics with Natasha Rothwell (Insecure) and recorded it with his fellow The Voice coach Kelly Clarkson."

Entertainment Weekly gave us a little sneak-peak of the updated lyrics earlier this week, teasing that the lyrics are much more sensitive to the times,

"I really can’t stay (BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE)
I’ve gotta go away (I CAN CALL YOU A RIDE.)
This evening has been (SO GLAD THAT YOU DROPPED IN)
So very nice (TIME SPENT WITH YOU IS PARADISE)
My mother will start to worry (I’LL CALL A CAR AND TELL ’EM TO HURRY)"

While, according to E.T., another famous exchange really hits the concept of consent home.

“What will my friends think?” Clarkson now asks, before he responds, “I think they should rejoice.” Clarkson finishes her thought with “If I have one more drink?” before Legend replies, “It’s your body, and your choice.”

The reworking of "Baby It's Cold Outside" will be a featured track on Legend's "A Legendary Christmas: Deluxe Edition" album due out the second week in November.