It’s officially November and that means that it is also, sort of, officially Christmas time! Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m not forgetting about Thanksgiving. I could never forget about the turkey. However, the Christmas music is getting dusted off for another year of joy and merriment, and this year, we have a new addition in our Christmas rotation.
This past Thursday, Olivia Rodrigo released her first Christmas single “Take Me Home (4 Christmas).” From the moment she announced she was releasing a holiday track, I was immediately paying attention. I’ve been a long time fan of Rodrigo, and, honestly, I do think all of her albums are no-skip albums. She somehow encapsulates every emotion I’ve ever felt in all of her songs.
With that, I thoroughly enjoy when my favorite artists release holiday music that isn’t just remakes of classics. For example, “Fruitcake” by Sabrina Carpenter is one of my favorite holiday EPs of all time, and “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call” by Bleachers is a gut wrenching tune that has made it into my Christmas rotation. So, my bar was high for Rodrigo, and I have to admit, she did deliver, just not in the way I was expecting.
THe initial Thoughts
Ok, I’m going to be honest, on my first listen through, I didn’t love the track. I wasn’t expecting an upbeat song and I also wasn’t expecting her to take the route she did with the tempo, rhythm and overall sound so it was a bit jarring for me just because of my assumptions.
I did notice that the song reminded me of “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses, which I normally hear on TikTok during this time of year. I don’t particularly love that song either, so that also might have been the reason for my hesitence to like Rodrigo’s new track.
With that being said, the song was catchy and I really loved the music video and overall aesthetics of it, so I knew that this was one of those times where I just needed to listen to the song more in order to appreciate it. For me, it was definitely an acquired taste ordeal.
Another thing that got me excited for this release was the fact that Cynthia Nixon was going to be in the music video. I love “Sex and the City,” so this crossover was everything to me. I was especially looking forward to it because Rodrigo had mentioned in an interview with Jimmy Fallon that some of her songs were inspired by Miranda and Steve.
Miranda, of course, being Nixon’s character in the show. I also loved how Nixon was worked into the music video because I wasn’t entirely sure what the narrative of the video would be. I was pleasantly surprised to watch and find that she was playing the mother of Rodrigo’s boyfriend in the music video, who was played by none other than SNL cast member, and heart throb, Ben Marshall.
All in all, my first listen through of the song had me nervous that I would only be listening again in order to watch Rodrigo attempt to be a good daughter-in-law for Nixon in the music video because I do love a good music video with a solid narrative.
A Closer look
Naturally, this fear of disliking a song released by one of my favorite artists made me listen to it again … and again … and again. At around my third listen and rewatch of the music video, I noticed that this song was definitely not as happy as it seemed.
The music video starts with a pretty gloomy scene of Rodrigo cleaning up what looks to be the remnants of a house party with her boyfriend, or maybe holiday situationship, Marshall passed out on the couch in clothes from the night before. Soon, the video then cuts to both of them in much more Hallmark-esque outfits at Nixon’s house, aka Marshall’s mother’s house. The rest of the music video is basically the cutest family Christmas possible, and, of course, Rodrigo being merry, kind and the ideal in-law daughter.
That is, until the end of the video when it cuts back to Rodrigo and Marshall on the couch from the beginning of the video, gloomy and in last night’s clothes, proving that the perfect Christmas with your crush, situationship or low-commitment holiday fling is in fact just a fantasy and his mom is definitely not Miranda Hobbes.
This visual illusion of the perfect christmas paired with her lyrics made me realize this isn’t just a happy, upbeat Christmas love song, it’s a song about a girl longing for commitment from someone she knows she isn’t going get it from. Essentially, the song is manifesting meeting the parents of your mysterious situationships, spending the holidays with them and them absolutely loving you.
There’s another scene in the music video that I feel like emphasizes this point even more. That would be the scene where Rodrigo is playing a charades type game with Marshall’s family and everyone is wearing those fun holiday paper crowns. I saw a TikTok that compared that part of the music video to a jarringly similar scene from the show “Normal People.”
I almost had a heart attack at this comparison, not only because I love the show, but also because “Normal People” is about the most notoriously doomed situationship of all time. Drawing parallels between the song and the show for me, further highlighted the fact that this song is about wanting an unserious relationship to be taken to the next step, rather than relishing in the love of a committed relationship.
So, despite not initially loving the new song, I do feel like understanding the meaning behind it helps me to appreciate it more. Maybe it’s the pessimist in me, but I like singing it in a more ironic or sarcastic way now that I know the upbeat nature of the song is sort of a cover up for the wanting the opportunity to “be the coolest in-law daughter” and be offered some “serious commitment.”