Christmas songs, or tracks related to any holiday, can be weird. On the surface, they are pure money grabs, not necessarily meant for pure artistic merit. But does that really matter? The tunes are meant to be fun most of the time, and that is the case with Olivia Rodrigo's first holiday song, "Take Me Home (4 Christmas)."
The question is whether the song is entertaining enough to be heard more than once, and possibly land on the Christmas playlists you likely make every year. It's a big ask for any new holiday track, of course. Something about it needs to be special, and emotions and memories from the listener need to find common ground with the track.
For Rodrigo, she felt moved to create and record a song that is about meeting one's partner's family at their home for the first time. The narrator just wants to be liked, and one can never be sure how first meetings will go.
Will Olivia Rodrigo's new holiday song make it to your Christmas playlist?
The song was co-written by longtime Rodrigo collaborator Dan Nigro, as well as recent writing partner Amy Allen. The video co-stars Saturday Night Live's Ben Marshall as Rodrigo's boyfriend, as well as actress Cynthia Nixon as the boyfriend's mom.
The music has a bit of a dancehall feel (something like what the Kinks did with "Come Dancing") and feels like it's rushing somewhere. One doesn't have time to stop and think about the lyrics because they sweep by rather quickly.
Suffice it to say, Rodrigo is tired of waiting to meet the boyfriend's family, and she is telling him so. What seems to be clear is that the singer is only imagining what the meeting might be like, though. The video starts with Rodrigo cleaning up after a party and finishes the same way. She doesn't look overly happy.
Along the way, we see what Rodrigo would do to try to impress, however. She chops wood; she interacts; she says what she will do to get along with the fam. She also somewhat oddly makes a point of being caught in just her underwear by the boyfriend's mom (and we see the scene).
Is the song pure fluff? Yeah, of course. It's almost too much meaningless fun for something you will be hearing next year and beyond, though. This isn't one of Olivia Rodrigo's best tracks, but that was never really the point of the tune anyway.
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