At the top end of pop, it all got a bit MAGA. By that we mean, the naked greed and manoeuvres to thwart the competition, and the mobilising of a toxic fanbase, was all too prevalent.

Then came Olivia Rodrigo who reminded us that you can just do everything right. She’s invited cool people to work with her, had Elvis Costello sticking up for her, placed credit where credit was due, played in dive bars, and is a breath of fresh air – all the while, making music in her own terms and not being a huge jerk in the process.

The only people not rooting for her are the aforementioned toxic fanbases.

And so, to Olivia’s new Christmas song – her first – which has a resemblance to The Waitresses ‘Christmas Wrapping’. The toxic pop fans were quick to jump on this fact, but again, Rodrigo had the receipts without being as ass.

When accused of using AI in a video, she released the drawing boards and animation WIPs, and this time around, it turned out she’d already been nice and done the legwork.

The song – ‘Take Me Home (4 Christmas)’ – does have The Waitresses vibe, and then Chris Butler who wrote the original, posted some bits on Facebook, showing just how decent Olivia is, and how decent people in pop can be.

He writes: “About two months ago, I received a weird email from someone claiming to be ‘Olivia Rodrigo’. “Said she’d written a Christmas song, and invited me to hear it.”

He confesses that he’d not heard of her, so did some research, and was impressed with what he found. Seeing how globally famous she was, he also assumed the email he’d received was fake.

After consideration, he replied to the email: “If you really are you, thanks for contacting me. And your comments are really sweet, and very flattering – they’re really sweet and flattering… even if you AREN’T you.

“If you really are Olivia Rodrigo: I like you, I like your music. I like the arrangements especially. Soft-loud-soft, etc. And that your recordings sound like people are playing on them.

He continued: “I like that your lyrics are intense, real, and poetic. I like that you “got” my songwriting, and that you like our band.”

In the end, he met with Rodrigo, and they acknowledged the shared vibe of the songs, and Chris was more than okay about the whole thing, even in the face of people stomping and pouting in his direction. To paraphrase, he says ‘you can’t copyright a vibe’.

And honestly, Rodrigo didn’t need to reach out in the first place. Sure, there’s a similarity, but it’s not an interpolation, and there’s nothing legally too similar. Olivia Rodrigo, once again, just did the right thing.