When a Christmas song has been done to death, what can you possibly do to shake it up?
Well, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson have decided to update the holiday chestnut “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with modernized lyrics for the #MeToo and Time’s Up era. After all these years, the 1944 original had suddenly become controversial because of a couple lines about a newly suspect drink that some were now interpreting as the man’s attempt to lower the woman’s resistance — as in date rape.
This brassy new version — sung with jazzy gusto by Legend and Clarkson, fellow coaches on “The Voice” — pours on the flirty fun, but lyrics such as “It’s your body and your choice” feel a little silly and gimmicky. Is that really going to come out of someone’s mouth in the middle of a Tinder date?
Interestingly, they leave in the original line about the woman having “maybe just a cigarette more,” when smoking is no longer the cool habit it once was.
If only they had followed that up with a line about the man not wanting to kiss a smoker.