John Legend and Kelly Clarkson have reimagined the Christmas song Baby It’s Cold Outside without the controversial lyrics.
The Voice coach shared a preview of the updated song, co-written with Insecure star Natasha Rowell, with Vanity Fair for the magazine’s November cover story.
“What will my friends think...” sings Clarkson.
“I think they should rejoice,” Legend responds.
“...if I have one more drink?”
“It’s your body, and your choice.”
The new rendition of the 1944 classic song, originally written by composer Frank Loesser, comes after the song’s lyrics prompted a conversation around consent.
In recent years, lyrics such as “Say, what’s in this drink?” and the back-and-forth prompting of the male to get the female to stay has faced criticism, especially in light of the #MeToo era.
Last year, the radio station Star 102 Cleveland, in Ohio, made headlines after it pulled the song from its Christmas line-up following complaints from listeners.
At the time, Glenn Anderson, a host for the radio station, said it had been banned because of lyrics that were “manipulative and wrong”.
“The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place,” Anderson wrote in a blog post about the decision.
Legend’s version, which features a “newfound sensitivity,” will be released this year, alongside a cover of Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas.
During the interview, the singer also discussed his decision to appear in the R Kelly documentary Surviving R Kelly.
“He was already cancelled in my mind,” Legend said before recalling that “a few years ago, we had a party at the house and we had a DJ playing music. R Kelly came on and I walked up to the DJ and said: ‘We don’t play him in this house.’”
In the documentary, Legend, the only major musician to appear in the series, said: “R Kelly has brought so much pain to so many people. #TimesUp for R Kelly.”
