Robbie Williams said he will not pursue Olivia Rodrigo over similarities between her new holiday song and his 2012 hit, dismissing such claims as “ambulance chasing.”
The Take That singer addressed fan comparisons between Rodrigo’s “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” and his song “Candy” in a Nov. 9 Instagram post, USA Today reported.
“It sounds to me as though she may have accidentally stumbled across a musical echo of mine in one of her new songs,” Williams wrote. “And do you know what? I couldn’t care less.”
Limited Notes Make Overlap Inevitable
Williams argued that musical overlaps are unavoidable given the finite nature of music.
“There are only so many notes. Only so many chords. Only so many ways of putting them together before you inevitably find yourself somewhere somebody else has been,” he wrote. “Music has been around for a very long time. We’re all going to bump into each other eventually.”
The 52-year-old singer, who said he has been a fan of Rodrigo since she released “Brutal” from her 2021 debut album “Sour,” made clear he has no intention of pursuing the matter legally.
“I’m not going after her,” he wrote. “Because I think at some point, some… sanity has to prevail.”
Genuine Theft vs. Accidental Similarity
Williams distinguished between protecting original work and pursuing claims over coincidental similarities.
Robbie Williams defends Olivia Rodrigo after she was accused of copying his song “Candy” with “take me home (4 christmas)”: “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… pic.twitter.com/pQZeK25oqZ”
“But there’s a difference between protecting your work and treating every vaguely familiar sequence of notes as a winning lottery ticket,” he wrote. “Some of this stuff has become ambulance chasing. And I think it’s disgusting.”
He acknowledged that he can afford to take this view at his career stage, but stressed that artists still deserve protection against genuine theft.
“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,” he wrote.
Rodrigo’s 2026 Releases and Tour
Rodrigo released “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” on Nov. 5 alongside a music video featuring Cynthia Nixon and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Ben Marshall.
Rodrigo is currently on her third major tour, the 86-date Unraveled Tour, which runs through next spring and features songs from her latest album alongside earlier hits including “Good 4 U,” “Vampire” and “Traitor.”
Song Similarity Questions Answered
What Olivia Rodrigo song sounds like Robbie Williams’ “Candy”?
Rodrigo’s holiday song “Take Me Home (4 Christmas),” released Nov. 5, has been compared by fans to Williams’ 2012 hit “Candy.”
Did Robbie Williams sue Olivia Rodrigo?
No. Williams said in his Nov. 9 Instagram post that he is “not going after her” and has no intention of pursuing legal action over the similarities.
What did Robbie Williams say about musical similarities?
He wrote that “there are only so many notes” and only so many chords, making it inevitable that musicians will eventually “bump into each other.”
What else has Olivia Rodrigo done in 2026?
She launched the Daisy Chain Fields festival in August, which raised $20 million, released “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” in November, and is currently on the 86-date Unraveled Tour.
Williams noted that while he can afford to dismiss the comparisons at this point in his career, the broader pattern of pursuing every similar-sounding sequence of notes threatens creativity across the industry.
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