Robbie Williams has defended fellow singer Olivia Rodrigo after he spotted some similarities between two of their songs.
This comes after Rodrigo had recently released her first Christmas song, Take Me Home (4 Christmas), inspired by the song, Christmas Wrapping, released by The Waitresses' in 1981. Fans were quick to notice the song also held similarities with Robbie Williams' 2012 hit, Candy, which reached number one in the UK.
Following this, former Take That singer, Williams jumped to Rodrigo's defence, stating that a lot of plagiarism accusations get thrown around the music industry, with many of them not justified.
"There’s something about the music industry that’s been bothering me for a while", Williams wrote on Instagram.
He continued: "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 ********", he added. "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 laugh?".
Despite the apparent similarities between the tracks, Robbie Williams insists he is not bothered by this.
"It sounds to me as though she may have accidentally stumbled across a musical echo of mine in one of her new songs", he wrote. "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 sanity has to prevail.
"Now, I appreciate I’m in a position in my career where I can afford to take that view", he added. "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 went on to add that he feels it is inevitable that artists will produce music of similar to other tracks in terms of sound or melody.
"We all stand on the shoulders of people who came before us. Sometimes consciously. Sometimes without even knowing it. That’s how music works", he stated. "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 brilliant".
Prior to this, Christopher Butler from The Waitresses had revealed that Olivia Rodrigo had contacted him after being inspired by Christmas Wrapping, which was how her own festive hit came about.
The song was released on November 5, and the music video features Sex and the City star, Cynthia Nixon, as well as US comedian, Bill Marshall.
Check it out below.
