Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo could have taken one step ahead and three steps back. 

Rodrigo grew up as a self-proclaimed “diehard” fan of Swift, first masking her songs at the age of four. After Rodrigo’s tune “Driver’s License” from her debut album, Sour, hit No. 1 at the charts in January 2021, Swift confirmed her give a boost to to the ingénue by sending Rodrigo a handwritten note with personalised presents to rejoice the one’s huge good fortune. 

“I got a letter from Taylor Swift closing night time, which is insane. Last night time, I opened it for the primary time, so I’m still reeling,” Rodrigo gushed to Radio.com in March 2021. “My tears are on it, my snot from sobbing my eyes out is on it. I like her. One of my favorite lyrics of hers is, ‘Past me, I’d love to tell you to not get misplaced in these petty issues / Your nemeses will defeat themselves before you get the danger to swing.’ It’s in ‘Long Story Short’ off of Evermore. So she wrote about that in her letter somewhat bit. She’s like, ‘I think we make our own success and I feel when you’re kind to other people and do what’s proper, it always comes back to you in one of the best ways.’ I simply adore her and that’s what I’ve actually been enthusiastic about since I opened that thing remaining night time, it’s the one factor in my brain. […] I in reality can’t discuss it, I’m, like, going to cry. It’s so insane, I can’t even comprehend.”

Swift was once seemingly changing into a mentor for Rodrigo, however the duo’s relationship perceived to hit a snag after Rodrigo launched her 2d single, “Deja Vu,” in April 2021. Some listeners identified similarities to Swift’s “Cruel Summer” — a track Rodrigo admitted she used as inspiration while writing her album. 

Swift — along side her collaborators Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent — had been ultimately given retroactive royalties on the song, however Swift and Rodrigo haven’t addressed every different publicly since. 

Keep scrolling for every top and low between Swift and Rodrigo over time: 

A Cruel Cover

In April 2020, Rodrigo performed a cover of “Cruel Summer” — a observe off Swift’s 2019 album Lover — for MTV’s Alone Together Jam Session. 

“THE TALENT,” Swift wrote via her Instagram Story of the rendition. “Love This!!! Thanks for this beautiful efficiency @olivia.rodrigo @mtv.” 

Born to be a Swiftie

Even earlier than she was uploading Instagram movies of herself rocking out in her automobile to Swift’s “Better Than Revenge,” Rodrigo was once the “world’s largest Swiftie,” claiming the Folklore singer’s lyrics even helped her form a few of her earliest songs. 

“I used to be making up songs about pickup trucks, even though I had by no means noticed a pickup truck in my existence up to that point,” Rodrigo informed Nylon magazine in 2021 of being impressed via Swift’s hit track “Picture to Burn.” 

Dance Party Promo 

Rodrigo and BFF Conan Gray took to social media to lend a hand tease the re-release of Swift’s track “You Belong With Me” in April 2021. In the TikTok clip, the pair recreated the iconic song video by means of writing each other indicators, jumping on the mattress and lip-syncing into hairbrushes. 

Screaming, Crying, Throwing Up

When Rodrigo’s song “Driver’s License” charted at No. 3 on iTunes in January 2021, it landed without delay beneath two of Swift’s songs, “It’s Time to Go”  and “Right Where You Left Me.” At the time, Rodrigo shared a screenshot of the list via Instagram, writing, “Next to Taylor on the US iTunes chart I’m in a puddle of tears.”

Swift, for her section, reciprocated along with her own remark: “I say that’s my baby and I’m proud.” 

Rodrigo then shared the remark to her social media page, captioning the post, “What is breathing?”

Rodrigo later gushed about having so many of her idols succeed in out to congratulate her on her good fortune. “Taylor clearly commented on my Instagram publish and it made a gigantic splash, it was insane,” she stated in an interview with UK’s “Big Top 40” later that month. “I am the most important Swiftie in the whole international and the truth she did that in reality simply made my existence.”

An Ingenue in the Making 

Swift despatched Rodrigo a handwritten notice and items in March 2021. 

“She gave me this ring as a result of she mentioned she wore one just love it when she wrote Red and she sought after me to have one like it and all of this amazing stuff,” Rodrigo told Sirius XM’s “The Morning Mashup” at the time. ”She, like, hand-wrapped these presents.”

Enchanted to Meet You

The pair in any case met in particular person on the Brit Awards in May 2021, where they posed for a sweet snap. Prior to the rite, Rodrigo penned a handwritten word to Swift — in addition to Harry Styles and Little Mix. 

Turning Sour? 

The duo’s blossoming friendship reputedly hit a snag when Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, was launched later that month. Swift was once all the time credited on the song “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” which uses an interpolation of her observe “New Year’s Day.”

However, Swift used to be retroactively credited for Rodrigo’s second unmarried, “Deja Vu,” in July 2021, after listeners accused her of plagiarism and copyright infringement by way of social media. 

Billboard later reported in September 2021 that Rodrigo had given up “millions” in royalties on every of the songs. 

Bloodsucker, Fame F—ker?

After Rodrigo launched the single “Vampire” in August 2023, some fans started to speculate the pop anthem was once about Swift. The pointed lyrics seemed to tease a falling-out, nevertheless it was unclear if Rodrigo was once making a song a few romantic or platonic dating.

Rodrigo later perceived to close down the rumors, telling The Guardian in September 2023, “I imply, I by no means want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve by no means finished that prior to in my career and almost definitely received’t. I believe it’s better not to pigeonhole a song to being about this something … I used to be very surprised when people thought that.”

Not in Any Era 

When requested through The Guardian if she went to look Swift’s Eras Tour, Rodrigo defined that the promotion of her second album, Guts, kept her from attending.

“I haven’t [long gone] but,” she advised the hole. “I’m going to Europe this week.” 

Holding a Grudge? 

Following the release of Rodrigo’s 2d studio album, Guts, in September 2023, listeners in an instant started to speculate if the track “The Grudge” used to be referencing the copyright issue that opened up between her and Swift. 

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“The arguments that I’ve won towards you in my head / In the bathe, in the automobile, and in the mirror sooner than mattress,” Rodrigo sings in the second verse. “Yeah, I’m so tricky once I’m by myself, and I make you are feeling so accountable / And I fantasize a few time you’re just a little f–relatives’ sorry.”

She adds in the chorus: “Ooh, do you suppose I deserved all of it? / Oh, your flower’s filled with vitriol / You constructed me up to watch me fall / You have the whole thing and you still need extra.” 

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