Spirit of Christmas turns sour over John Lewis ad

The appearance of the often-emotive Christmas advert for UK-retailer John Lewis attracts an annual storm of social media attention – but this year’s has been mired in controversy due to the similarity of the theme music to a cover released last year by an Irish-British alt-folk duo.

At the centre of that controversy is Loughrea woman Lorraine Reilly Millington whose band – comprising of herself and her husband Jeremy – the Portraits released a cover of the same song in aid of UK charities Cruse Bereavement support and mental health charity Mind.

The Somerset-based couple released their version of Human League’s ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ last year with vocals by their teenage daughter, Ciara.

A slowed-down piano version of the song, it bears striking similarities to that now featured on the department store giant’s television campaign. Their version was released in memory of the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and an accompanying video included images of many who died.

While John Lewis has denied any claims they ‘copied’ the Portrait’s version, Lorraine has revealed that the couple did in fact contact the company last March asking if their arrangement of the hit-song would work for its Christmas advert, but received no response.

Lorraine has called on John Lewis to put things right by making a donation to the two charities for whom they made the recording in 2020 and said they felt compelled to speak out.

“It has been about putting right something that didn’t feel right in the story of a music release that went out with a huge amount of love and positive energy pumped into it from a huge group of ‘normal people’ who wanted to mark the passing of a painfully large number of loved ones who’d been taken during 2020 – and to raise funds for two exceptional organisations who work around the clock to be at the end of a phoneline when people need help,” she said.

Misappropriating the work that went into creating their charity song for commercial gain seemed ‘wrong’, she added.

Lorraine grew up in Coscorrig, Loughrea – a place she says she still calls home to this day, despite having lived away from there for many years.

Her dad, Joe Reilly, worked in Tynagh Mines while her mum, Kathleen, reared Lorraine and her five siblings. Both are still at home in Coscorrig, she says,

She credits Sr Bernadette in St Raphael’s for her guitar-playing skills, but says it was her grandad Michael, a talented tin whistle player, that opened up the world of music to her.

She studied Art Foundation for one year at GMIT, before travelling to Belfast to study. She and her husband Jeremy met on the Isle of Wight in the 1990s and later moved to Bristol where the pair have picked up a following by creating what she says are ‘deeply person and emotive songs that paint pictures of love and loss’.

The couple last week released another charity single – a cover of Ed Sheeran’s hit song, Photograph.