John LegendandKelly Clarksonare bringing some holiday cheer toThe Voice!
Clarkson, 37, shimmered in a sparkly sapphire gown, while Legend, 40, rocked a Christmas plaid suit as the pair sang their duet on a decked-out holiday stage.
In their updated version of the iconic 1944 tune, the artists replacesome of the original lyrics— which some have called sexist — with ones that are more appropriate for 2019.
However, since releasing the remake of the popular holiday song, Clarkson and Legend have receivedbacklashfor the new lyrics, whichpersistedduring their Tuesday night performance.
Kelly Clarkson, John Legend.Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Another taggedThe Voicealong with Clarkson and Legendand wrote, “Had to change and ruin a classic bc of the #metoo movement. ugh!”
A thirdadded, “Leave the classics alone.”
Legend,PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, recentlyresponded to the ongoing criticism, telling PEOPLE in November that there shouldn’t be a “debate” over which version of the song is better.
“First of all, there’s no side to be on,” he said. “It’s just another version of the song. If you don’t wanna listen to it, you don’t have to. No one’s saying you can’t listen to the old version. Those versions all exist. People make new versions of songs all the time and we thought it’d be fun to update the song and make it more current.”
Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
But despite the backlash, Legend told PEOPLE he was happy for the buzz around the song.
“We figured it’d be fun, we figured it’d be funny and we figured it’d be newsworthy. And I think we achieved all three,” he added.
The award-winning singer continued on to say that he wanted to keep the song light-hearted and fun.
“We wanted a comedic angle to it so I asked Natasha Rothwell fromInsecureto be my co-writer on it,” the father of two explained. “She came up with so many funny ideas and we used so much of it and made a brand new version, one that’s kind of updated for now. And we had a lot of fun making it.”
The original lyrics have often raised eyebrows with lines like, “Say, what’s in this drink?” and a back-and-forth where a man tries to persuade a woman to stay the night despite her continued protests — “I really can’t,” and “The answer is no.”
Last year, the song wastaken off of some radio playlistsin the wake of the #MeToo movement.
source: people.com
