Robbie Williams defends Olivia Rodrigo after spotting similarity between songs

Rodrigo recently released her first Christmas song, Take Me Home (4 Christmas), which was inspired by The Waitresses’ 1981 song Christmas Wrapping.

Fans thought Rodrigo’s song also bore a similarity to Williams’ 2012 single Candy, which went to number one in the UK.

Some fans thought Rodrigo’s new song Take Me Home (4 Christmas) sounded like Williams’ 2012 song Candy (Doug Peters/PA)

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The speculation prompted Williams to defend Rodrigo, saying he thinks a lot of plagiarism accusations in the music industry are “absolute bollocks”.

He wrote on Instagram: “There’s something about the music industry that’s been bothering me for a while.

“People coming after people because they’ve spotted a similarity between two songs. Some of it I completely understand.

“Some of it is absolutely justified. Most of it, I think, is complete bollocks.

“I’ve had plenty of people come after me over the years because something I’ve released apparently sounds like something somebody else released.

“And sometimes I listen and think, fair enough, I can hear that. Other times I think, are you having a f****** laugh?”

Discussing Rodrigo, he added: “It sounds to me as though she may have accidentally stumbled across a musical echo of mine in one of her new songs.

“And do you know what? I couldn’t care less. I don’t know whether there’s technically a publishing issue, a copyright issue, or no issue whatsoever.

“And I don’t want to know. I’m not going after her. Because I think at some point, some f****** sanity has to prevail.

“Now, I appreciate I’m in a position in my career where I can afford to take that view.

“Not everybody is. And genuine theft is genuine theft. Artists deserve to be protected.

“But there’s a difference between protecting your work and treating every vaguely familiar sequence of notes as a winning lottery ticket.

“Some of this stuff has become ambulance chasing. And I think it’s disgusting.”

Williams said he feels it is inevitable that artists will sometimes produce music that has a similar sound or melody to other songs.

He wrote: “We all stand on the shoulders of people who came before us. Sometimes consciously. Sometimes without even knowing it. That’s how music works.

“If we keep punishing people for accidentally arriving somewhere somebody else has already been, eventually we’re going to frighten the creativity out of everyone.

“Anyway, Olivia, if you’re reading this, I think you’re f****** brilliant.”

The Waitresses musician Christopher Butler revealed Rodrigo contacted him after being inspired by his song Christmas Wrapping and making her own track, Take Me Home (4 Christmas).

Rodrigo’s song has a noticeably similar beat and she also uses a comparable vocal style to the one heard on the 1981 song.

Take Me Home (4 Christmas) was released on November 5 and is Rodrigo’s first Christmas song.

The track was accompanied by a music video which features Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon as well as US comedian and Saturday Night Live star Ben Marshall.