Ever since Olivia Rodrigo dropped "Vampire" in June, rumors of a feud between her and Taylor Swift immediately started circulating. When the 20-year-old singer finally released her full-length "Guts" album on September 8, fans quickly began analyzing her lyrics for more subtle clues that her past admiration for Swift had Go bad. They seem to have found the confirmation they were looking for in Rodrigo's new song "The Grudge," a piano ballad that some X (formerly Twitter) users are convinced is "definitely about" Swift.
"That Friday in May I had nightmares every week/One phone call from you and my whole world changed," Rodrigo sings in the song. “Oh, your flowers are full of vitriol/You built me up and watched me fall/You have it all, but you want more.”
How do these lyrics apply to Swift, and what originally happened between the two? To recap, Rodrigo announced her Swiftie status early on, even inserting her "New Year's" into Sour 's "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back." Meanwhile, Swift publicly praised Rodrigo's single "Drivers License" in early 2021 and gave her a personal gift. The two finally met face to face at the BRIT Awards in May 2021 and shared a photo together on Instagram. However, things may have taken a turn when Rodrigo dropped her debut album shortly after the aforementioned "Friday in May."
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Amid apparent copyright issues with "Deja Vu," Rodrigo — who said her single was partially inspired by Lover 's "Cruel Summer" — retroactively linked Swift to collaborator Jack Anton in July Nove and St. Vincent are listed as co-creators. 2021. To do so, she reportedly had to share 50% of the song's royalties, which could cost her millions of dollars.
In addition to the aforementioned "Grudge" lyrics, other lyrics highlighted by fans include more hints of betrayal by former friends. "Believing you were betrayed, the confusion still lingers/Took everything I loved and squeezed it between your fingers/I doubt you ever thought about the damage you caused," Rodrigo sings , adding, “My undying love, now I hold it like a resentment/Every time I think I’m not enough, I hear your voice.”
One fan wrote: "This drama. Angry. I disagreed with Taylor Swift's 'Vampire.' But was convinced by the feuding lyrics. Now I think Taylor is really starting to feud with a real teenager. Will Will repeat." Another noted that the intro to "The Grudge" lasts 13 seconds, which may be a reference to Swift's often-mentioned lucky number.
It didn't help quell the feud rumors when Rodrigo admitted in a New York Times profile in August that she was too busy to join Swift on her Eras tour. (However, rumored "Drivers License" subject Sabrina Carpenter is now one of the opening acts on the Eras tour.) Then, when The Guardian 's interviewer asked Rodrigo point-blank about her When asked whether the single "Vampire" had anything to do with Swift, she took the opportunity to debunk the rumor by not answering.
“How do I answer this question?” the “Cruel” artist responded in a post posted on September 2. "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 never will. I think it's best not to attribute a song to For songs about this, I’m really surprised when people think that.”
While she hasn't directly addressed the subsequent speculation about "The Grudge," if a rift does exist between the two, all hope may not be lost for her and Swift's future. At the end of the new song, Rodrigo confesses: "Even after everything I've been through, you're still my everything."
