What occurred between Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift? Did something occur? The world might by no means know — however following the discharge of Rodrigo’s new tune “The Grudge,” it certain desires solutions.
Rumors have been swirling for months that the 2 stars had a falling out over a copyright problem with Rodrigo’s hit single “Deja Vu,” which she as soon as stated was partly impressed by Swift’s “Merciless Summer time” earlier than quietly retroactively crediting Swift as a co-writer. (An identical situation went down with Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” on which she retroactively credited and break up royalties with Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro after listeners identified similarities between the tune and “Distress Enterprise.”)
At first of her music profession, Rodrigo passionately recognized as a brilliant fan of the “Anti-Hero” singer and even interpolated Swift’s “New Years Day” on one other Bitter tune, “1 Step Ahead, 3 Steps Again.” However because the “Deja Vu” scenario, she’s gone radio silent about her Swiftiehood, and even appears to evade questions on Swift in interviews.
In a current New York Occasions profile, as an example, Rodrigo stated she’d been too busy to catch a present on Swift’s Eras Tour. She additionally selected to not affirm or deny whether or not or not her tune “Vampire” was about her onetime idol, although she did confess to feeling “very shocked when individuals thought” the scathing monitor was about Swift.
Enter: “The Grudge,” which dropped Friday (Sept. 8) together with 9 different new songs and two beforehand launched singles, “Vampire” and “Unhealthy Concept Proper?” on Rodrigo’s sophomore album Guts. The piano ballad finds the 20-year-old pop star reflecting on a soured relationship with somebody whom she as soon as admired, admitting on the finish that “even in any case this, you’re nonetheless every thing to me.”
“I’ve nightmares every week ’bout that Friday in Could/ One telephone name from you and my total world was modified,” she sings. “Ooh, your flowers full of vitriol/ You constructed me as much as watch me fall/ You could have every thing and you continue to need extra.”
The lyrics stood out to many listeners as being harking back to Rodrigo’s rumored feud with the elder star, who beforehand appeared keen on Rodrigo and championed her early success with “Drivers License” previous to the “Deja Vu” debacle. “Olivia Rodrigo’s new tune ‘The Grudge’ is totally about Taylor Swift, proper?” tweeted one fan, sharing screenshots of the tune’s most pointed traces.
“The drama. The anger,” wrote one other. “I wasn’t on board with vampire being about Taylor swift. However satisfied by the lyrics of the grudge.”
Rodrigo isn’t new to having of us speculate over the topics of her songs. As talked about, many individuals have been satisfied that “Vampire” known as out Swift upon its launch in June, whereas others debated which of the previous Disney star’s rumored ex-boyfriends (Zack Bia? Adam Faze) impressed the monitor. Even the very first tune Rodrigo launched, “Drivers License,” began a full-blown fan battle on-line after listeners linked its story of betrayal to her alleged breakup from Joshua Bassett.
The “Good 4 U” singer would be the first to remind you that this type of hypothesis can result in a dead-end, although. “Songs are simply songs on the finish of the day,” she stated in a current interview with Sirius XM Hits 1. “A lot of the time I write one thing that’s form of like an amalgamation of numerous totally different individuals, or I write quite a lot of songs out of fantasy typically too.”
See fan theories about Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and “The Grudge” under.