Is Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Vampire” about … Taylor Swift? Rodrigo commented on fan hypothesis that the lead ballad from Guts, on which she scathingly sings about an unnamed “bloodsucker, famef—er,” is someway about one in all her childhood idols.
“How do I reply this?” Rodrigo reportedly whispered to Guardian journalist Laura Snapes, when the query about “Vampire” arose throughout an interview forward of the Sept. 8 launch of Guts.
“I imply, I by no means wish to say who any of my songs are about,” stated Rodrigo. “I’ve by no means carried out that earlier than in my profession and possibly gained’t. I feel it’s higher to not pigeonhole a music to being about this one factor.”
“I used to be very stunned when individuals thought that,” she added within the article that was revealed on Saturday (Sept. 2).
Swift championed Rodrigo, who was a self-proclaimed Swiftie, very early on. “I say that’s my child and I’m actually proud,” she sweetly shared on social media when Rodrigo’s breakout smash “Drivers License” first began showing on charts subsequent to Swift’s music. Swift gifted her a hoop just like the one she wore when engaged on her Pink album — “She is completely the kindest particular person in the entire world,” Rodrigo gushed on the time — and the pair met in particular person and posed collectively for a cute picture on the 2021 Brit Awards.
After Rodrigo’s debut album, Bitter, dropped, interpolations present in her work proved expensive. Rodrigo ended up retroactively sharing songwriting credit for “deja vu” with Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) for its memory of Swift’s “Merciless Summer season.” She additionally gave writing credit to Swift and Antonoff on “1 step ahead, 3 steps again” earlier than Bitter‘s launch for together with an interpolation of Swift’s “New 12 months’s Day” on the music.
Rodrigo and Swift seemingly haven’t related to one another since, at the very least publicly. In a current New York Occasions profile, Rodrigo stated she hasn’t seen a present on Swift’s Eras Tour.
Again to the music which means of “Vampire”: To her level, Rodrigo’s lyrics might have been impressed by a variety of private experiences the singer-songwriter might need encountered since “Drivers License” made its mark in 2021 — so her reply to the query doesn’t actually reply a lot in any respect.
“Hate to offer the satisfaction, asking the way you’re doing now/ How’s the citadel constructed off individuals you fake to care about?” she sings within the opening of the music.
Later within the profile about Rodrigo and her sophomore album, Guardian author Snapes, in her personal phrases, notes that “‘Vampire’ is primarily a couple of romantic relationship with an older man.” Lots of its lyrical barbs do level towards this interpretation: there’s a line directed at a “cool man,” and one declaring that “each woman I ever talked to advised me you had been unhealthy, unhealthy information.” Within the observe’s second verse, Rodrigo says, “Went for me, and never her/ ‘Trigger women your age know higher.”
Learn the total piece at The Guardian right here.