What Happened Between Taylor Swift And Olivia Rodrigo?

Highlights

Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo had a sweet friendship, with Rodrigo expressing her love for Swift's music and Swift showing support for the young artist.
Tensions arose when Taylor Swift allegedly sued Olivia Rodrigo for copyright infringement over the song "Deja Vu," resulting in Rodrigo giving Swift songwriting credit and paying millions in royalties.
While their friendship may have fizzled, there is no current bad blood between Swift and Rodrigo, as they both seem focused on moving forward and leaving the past behind.

Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are two of the biggest female singers in the world, but the two may be feuding. When Rodrigo was first rising in popularity with her music, she expressed her adoration for Swift and even claimed to be inspired by Swift's music. Rodrigo has shared many covers of Swift's music over the years, and Swift has expressed her support for the young artist. Swift even gifted Rodrigo a ring as a gesture of support, and when they finally met in person in 2021 fans were over the moon about their pictures together.

Though they had a sweet beginning to a friendship, the relationship between Swift and Rodrigo has had some tensions in recent years. Swift sued Rodrigo for copy-write infringement over the song "Deja Vu," and Swift was given a songwriting credit on the song due to its similarity to her own "Cruel Summer."

Taylor Swift And Olivia Rodrigo's Friendship

In comparison to how long Taylor Swift has been in the music industry, Olivia Rodrigo is only just starting her career. Rodrigo entered the entertainment industry as an actress, appearing on the Disney television shows Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

After her music career began to take off with songs such as "Driver's License" and "Good 4 U," Rodrigo exited High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in order to focus solely on her growing career as a musician.

Rodrigo has not been shy about her love for Swift. She has shared many covers of Swift's songs over the years and always expresses her support when the artist releases new music.

Swift took notice of the growing artist, not only because of Rodrigo's obvious love for her, but also due to Rodrigo's talent as a singer and songwriter.

The two singers began exchanging comments on social media, and Rodrigo was certainly ectatic about gaining the attention of one of her idols.

Swift even sent Rodrigo some very personal gifts, which Rodrigo revealed on the Sirus XM "The Morning Mashup."

"She gave me this ring because she said she wore one just like it when she wrote Red and she wanted me to have one like it and all of this amazing stuff," Rodrigo revealed. "She, like, hand-wrapped these gifts."

Swift and Rodrigo finally met in person at the Brit Awards in May 2021, and they posed for an adorable photo together.

Did Taylor Swift Sue Olivia Rodrigo?

Though their friendship was sweet for a long time, things between Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo hit a snag pretty quickly. After Rodrigo released her debut album Sour, fans of Swift were quick to point out the similarities between Rodrigo's "Deja Vu" and Swift's "Cruel Summer."

Swift was always credited for songwriting on Rodrigo's "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back," as the song uses the music in Swift's "New Year's Day." Considering Rodrigo had been proactive about giving songwriting credit for this song, fans were shocked when so many of her other songs were called out for plagiarism.

It was never actually confirmed if Swift sued Rodrigo for the plagiarism, and it seems like technically she did not sue the younger artist. However, Swift and her team did reach out to Rodrigo and accuse her of the crime, which caused Rodrigo to give Swift songwriting credit on "Deja Vu."

Rodrigo was forced to pay millions in royalties to Swift and other artists for the plagiarism.

"I think it's disappointing to see people take things out of context and discredit any young woman's work," Rodrigo told Teen Vogue at the time of the scandal with Swift. "Every single artist is inspired by artists who have come before them. It's sort of a fun, beautiful sharing process. Nothing in music is ever new. There's four chords in every song. That's the fun part--trying to make that your own."

Rodrigo was certainly caught off guard by the business side of music.

Does Olivia Rodrigo Shade Taylor Swift In "Vampire"?

Since the credit scandal, it is not shocking that things have been a little awkward between Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift. Whether an actual lawsuit was involved, Rodrigo was forced to give up songwriting credit and royalties to Swift. Tensions have certainly been high.

Rodrigo released her sophomore album Guts in early September 2023, and her fans are already diving deep into the lyrics. People are trying to figure out the inspiration behind her new songs, and the songs "Vampire" and "The Grudge" are particularly interesting to fans.

Fans think that the two songs are actually about Swift. Certain lyrics in the two songs seem to call back to the songwriting credit scandal, and the internet is exploding with rumors and theories.

When asked if "Vampire" was about Swift by The Guardian, Rodrigo whispered, "How do I answer this?"

"I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about," Rodrigo continued. "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."

Are Taylor Swift And Olivia Rodrigo Feuding?

Though Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo have stopped interacting as much on social media and their friendship has seemingly fizzled since the "Deja Vu" scandal, Rodrigo recently told Rolling Stone that they are not on bad terms.

"I don't have beef with anyone," Rodrigo told the outlet. "I'm very chill. I keep to myself. I have my four friends and my mom, and that's really the only people I talk to, ever."

Swift also seemed to show support to Rodrigo during the 2023 VMAs.

While they may no longer be friends exchanging kind words online, they do not appear to have any bad blood between them. Both artists seem to be of the mindset to move forward with their lives and let the past stay in the past.