John Lewis copied our song idea, say ‘uncool’ folkies
Band say they sent version of Eighties classic for Christmas ad only to see it used with another singer
JOHN LEWIS’S Christmas adverts have made an annual tradition of creating hits with delicate yuletide singles. This year’s commercial is no different, with Lola Young providing a stripped-back rendition of Together in Electric Dreams.
But an alt-folk band from Somerset claims the retail giant lifted the idea from their own Christmas song, except they weren’t “cool or edgy enough” to front the campaign themselves.
The Portraits, made up of Lorraine and Jeremy Millington, recorded a downbeat cover of the 1984 song – originally sung by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder – last year to raise money for families affected by Covid-19.
While it didn’t chart particularly well, the band – including daughter Ciara, who sings on the track – were interviewed on This Morning and The Jeremy Vine Show.
In March, they emailed a John Lewis marketing manager suggesting the track could be used for its Christmas advert. They did not receive a response.
They were surprised, therefore, to hear Young’s version of Together in Electric Dreams in this year’s advert, which tells the story of a young boy falling in love with an alien who crashlands on Earth during the festive season.
Young, 20, is yet to release her debut album but has signed to Island Records, which has released music by the likes of U2 and Amy Winehouse.
The idea for making a Christmas song out of the Eighties classic came to Mr Millington during a walk at the height of the pandemic. He said the message of connection over distance resonated during lockdown.
“How would you pluck a song like [the original] for a Christmas song? We did it first,” said Mrs Millington.
Her husband said John Lewis may have liked the track but not their image. “They might have thought we either weren’t edgy or cool or young enough,” he said. “Maybe they wanted a fresh face”.
John Lewis has denied the band’s accusation and said the marketing manager left in June, before the music for the advert was selected, and had no involvement in the ad campaign. The retailer also insisted that the two tracks are very different.
A spokesman for the retailer said: “There’s no substance to the claims as the person contacted by email left at the start of the summer and had no involvement in this year’s Christmas ad.
“The music that accompanies the ad is always the final element to be added and this year was chosen at the end of October. The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources.”
The band said they were speaking to copyright lawyers, but hope to avoid a legal fight. Mrs Millington said she was calling on the department store to make a contribution to the charities their single was created to support.
John Lewis pointed out that it already makes donations to Covid charities, through its Give a Little Love initiative.
approached Lola Young’s agent for comment.