Inside Olivia Rodrigo’s Taylor Swift Feud Rumors: What Really Happened
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When Olivia Rodrigo returned with “Vampire” in June, fans at first thought the track was about either producer Adam Faze or DJ/influencer Zack Bia, both were older guys and were linked to the singer. But a source told People that it had nothing to do with Faze, leading fans to speculate that the “bloodsucker” in Rodrigo’s supernatural epic might have been about Taylor Swift than a guy.
Swift was quoted as the number one inspiration for Rodrigo. Back when the young star’s breakout song“Driver’s License” took the world by storm, charting number three on iTunes right below two of Swift’s songs, the singer-songwriter proudly shared a screenshot on Instagram and wrote,“Next to taylor on the us i tunes chart i’m in a puddle of tears,” which was reciprocated by Swift with a comment, “I say that’s m baby and I’m proud.”
Rodrigo was vocal about her admiration for Swift. She told NME in 2021 that she had “looked up to Taylor since I was literally five years old” and thought “she’s the best songwriter of all time.” After many exchanges of gifts and handwritten notes, the pair met up at the 2021 Brit Awards and took a photo together. However, things took a different turn that summer when the young star added Swift, Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent for song credits on two of her Sour tracks. She also credited Paramore as a co-writer on “Good 4 U.”
It wasn’t clear whether Swift demanded the credits, but it was the first turn of events that led fans to believe that they had a fallout. Rodrigo ended up taking home three Grammy awards for Sour. However, the Academy removed Swift, Antonoff, and St. Vincent as nominees because they weren’t actively involved in the writing process.
“It’s not something that I was super involved in,” she revealed to Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “It was more team-on-team. So, I wouldn’t be the best person to ask.”
On the rumors and speculations around her songs, she found herself “caring less and less.” “I write diaristic songs, so of course everyone’s going to have their own interpretation of it,” she said.
She clarified that she didn’t “have beef with anyone.” “There’s nothing to say. There’s so many Twitter conspiracy theories,” she said about the rumored feud.
“I was a little caught off guard,” the star admitted to The Guardian when recalling the decision to share writing credits with Paramore. “At the time it was very confusing, and I was green and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Though it wasn’t something she spent too much time dwelling on, she was really disappointed “to see people taking things out of context and discredit any young woman’s work.”
