Olivia Rodrigo is, understandably, keen to talk about her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, which will be released on 12 June.
However, during a new interview with The New York Times’ Popcast, hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli couldn’t resist asking her about something that happened at the start of her music career – specifically, the time that she was seemingly forced to give a co-writing credit on one of her early songs to Taylor Swift.
The song in question is Deja Vu, Rodrigo’s second single, and the fifth track on her 2021 debut album, Sour. At the time, Rodrigo was keen to tell the world how much Swift had inspired her, and freely admitted that 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back, another song on the album, interpolated Swift’s song New Year’s Day, from her 2017 record, Reputation. As such, both Swift and her co-writer, Jack Antonoff, received credits.
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However, the case of Deja Vu – a somewhat ironic title, as it turns out – was different. In this instance, Swift and Antonoff (and also St Vincent) were only credited as co-writers several months after the song had been released – and, perhaps notably, after Rodrigo had said in an interview with Rolling Stone that Deja Vu’s bridge was at least partly inspired by the one in another Swift song: 2019’s Cruel Summer.
Olivia Rodrigo – deja vu (Official Video) – YouTube
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“We wanted to write a bridge,” Rodrigo explained. “I wanted it to be really high-energy ’cause the rest of the song is so serene and eerily calm. But I wanted the last bridge to go crazy and I love Cruel Summer. It’s one of my favourite songs ever. I love, like, the yelly vocals in it, like the harmonised yells that she does. I think they’re, like, super electric and moving, so I wanted to do something like that.”
It’s been noted that Rodrigo became notably less effusive in her praise of Swift after the credits incident, and when asked about it subsequently, she’s always tried to deflect the question while also not exactly putting the issue to bed.
You could say a similar thing about her answer to Caramanica, who asked Rodrigo directly if there’s now a “frost” between herself and Swift.
“I don’t know,” she replied, after taking a breath. “I think I tried to not let it, like, get to me or upset me. I think I just try to keep it trucking. I think there’s no… it was so long ago, there’s no use in, like, harping on it, and yeah, I just try to make songs that I love and try to be kind and good to other people and supportive of other people, and I’ve always like tried to be like that, and at the end of the day, I think that’s that’s all you can do.”
Read into that what you will, but one takeaway could be that Rodrigo feels that not everyone has been kind, good and supportive to her in the past.
Speaking more generally about being influenced by other artists – three months after the release of Good 4 U, another song on Sour, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Faro were credited as co-writers based on its similarity to their 2007 song, Misery Business – Rodrigo was unapologetic.
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“I am a fan girl. I love music, and nobody can take that away,” she said. “I love music, and I feel so lucky that I get to do what I do, and I love so many songs, and you know, I’ve grown up being surrounded with awesome music and awesome bands, and I truly just do feel so lucky, and I love writing songs. I would be writing songs if nobody listened, and everyone hated it, and everyone thought I was bad. I would still be writing songs, because it’s what I love to do.”
What’s more, Rodrigo has certainly had some great experiences with many of her heroes. Even after the Cruel Summer drama, she collaborated with St Vincent, one of the parties involved, on 2024 single Obsessed, and went on to play St Vincent’s signature guitar model on stage while she was performing it.
And then, of course, there’s her ongoing friendship with The Cure’s Robert Smith, which began when she duetted with him at Glastonbury in 2025.
Add to the fact that she’s been able to pay tribute to Jack White, another of her inspirations, at The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and convinced The Breeders, who she also loves, to go out on tour with her, and we’re guessing that Rodrigo is pretty happy with her musical friendships right now.