In response to the negative reaction last year to Baby, it’s Cold Outside, singer John Legend released an updated version for the upcoming holiday season.
The spin on the 1940s classic emphasizes it’s the person’s choice if they stay, and it’s their body. It even has Legend telling his duet partner, Kelly Clarkson, to text him when she arrives safely at home.
The duet is typically played around the holidays, even though it never explicitly mentions the time of year.
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It’s a call and answer template, where the person attempts to convince the other to stay even though it’s getting late and there’s a snow storm.
Many argued that at the time the song was written, it wasn’t socially acceptable for women to spend the night with their boyfriend or fiancée and that was to blame for some of the creepier undertones the song took.
The song was taken off the air last year by some radio stations in response to backlash surrounding harassment and date rape, but many brought it back after people protested the decision.
When I was younger, I found Baby, it’s Cold Outside a little eerie.
It reminded me of being in a situation where I wanted to leave because I was uncomfortable, and someone tried to make me stay. You try not to be rude by giving reasons to go, and they have a counter argument to make you stay. You feel pressured into being in a situation you shouldn’t be, and when you look back, you think you might have been overreacting.
The emphasis Legend’s version put on it being the person’s choice to stay was important to me, because that’s really where my issues with the song were. Even if it’s a twist on a classic, it’s one that could be good in the long-run. Times have changed, and I like to think we adapt along with them.
Sure, it might have been written in a time when situations were different, but we’re listening to it now. What people take away from it now is more important, and could help someone down the road who’s in a situation like that.
If this version gives one person the confidence to say ‘no’ when they’re in a situation they aren’t 100 per cent comfortable with, what’s the harm? We’re still going to hear the original around Christmastime, so this is just another song added to the playlist.
Yes, I realize Baby, it’s Cold Outside is a Christmas classic and people are annoyed someone altered it. I implore you to focus on the why instead of the end result, and what prompted this instead of immediately becoming outraged that someone had the gale to update a song that was written in the 1940s.
