Is “The Grudge” by Olivia Rodrigo about Taylor Swift?
Image Courtesy: Your Tango
Is rising pop star Olivia Rodrigo holding a “grudge” against America’s Sweetheart, Taylor Swift? Rumors spread like wildfire after Rodrigo released her album, GUTS, featuring the song “the grudge,” which has a few lines that may have been directed at Swift.
Rodrigo has been a self-proclaimed Swiftie since the launch of her music career, publicly gushing over her love of Swift and her music. Her song “1 step forward, 3 steps back” was proudly declared to have incorporated themes from Swift’s “New Year's Day.”
However, once Rodrigo began releasing her own music and her career took off, her previous fanfare over Swift began to fade.When asked by The New York Times if she had,or was planning to attend Swift’s world tour, Rodrigo replied “I haven’t yet,” before quickly explaining how busy she was. “I’m going to Europe this week.”
Image Courtesy: The Independent
It seems Rodrigo tends to be overly inspired by other artists. Rodrigo had to credit and share her royalties with Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro due to the similarities between her song “good 4 u” and their song “Misery Business.”
Similarly, a copyright issue arose when Rodrigo admitted her song “deja vu” was inspired by Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” Rodrigo, once again, shared her royalties and credited Swift as a co-writer.
Rodrigo admitted to being “caught off guard” by the whole experience with Swift. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she stated, "At the time it was very confusing. And I was green and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
When asked how she would have handled the situation if she was in Swift’s shoes, she replied she would have done things differently. "I don't think I would ever personally do that but who's to say where I'll be in 20, 30 years? All that I can do is write my songs and focus on what I can control."
Speculations about an under-the-radar feud grew stronger once Rodrigo released her album GUTS. One track, “the grudge,” has fans convinced the song is about Swift.
The song seems to be about a betrayal from someone Rodrigo once admired. Particularly lines such as “I have nightmares each week ’bout that Friday in May/ One phone call from you and my entire world was changed,” as well as “You built me up to watch me fall/ You have everything and you still want more,” seem to point fingers at Swift.
Swift was a huge supporter of Rodrigo’s music before the copyright issues. She “built her up,” and Rodrigo seems to believe it was simply to “watch her fall.”
The Friday in May could be a reference to the release of Rodrigo’s first album, SOUR, which came out on a Friday in May. Rodrigo ultimately lost millions of dollars over the royalties issue with Swift.
No one can deny Taylor Swift has it all. 740 million dollars Fans speculate that Rodrigo is singing that Swift has “everything” but seems to “still want more.”
Image Courtesy: Rolling Stone
Rodrigo’s single “vampire” was also rumored to be about Swift. When asked for a comment, she didn’t exactly deny the allegations.
“How do I answer this? I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing. I was very surprised when people thought that.”
However, Rodrigo has yet to address the rumors about “the grudge,” despite its trending status on social media.
Image Courtesy: The Sydney Morning Herald
Twitter has been buzzing with threads claiming that Swift having Sabrina Carpenter open for her tour (whom Rodrigo has had drama with in the past) was a slight at Rodrigo. Some claim that perhaps Swift is concerned Rodrigo will replace her as the pop-princess of the music industry. Swift’s song “Nothing New” hints at her concern that her fame and adoring fans won't last forever.
She writes "Are we only biding time 'til I lose your attention and someone else lights up the room? People love an ingénue." The song ultimately poses the question: “Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?"
Whether these rumors hold any weight is yet to be proven. The world may never know if Rodrigo and Swift have drama unfolding behind the scenes. For now, we take to Twitter and overanalyze lyrics in the hopes of uncovering an answer.
Strike Out,
Writer: Layne Schulte
Editor: Cristina Angee
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