Elvis Costello has once again spoken out about his decision not to sue Olivia Rodrigo after fans suggested there were similarities between their songs.
- READ MORE: Olivia Rodrigo: “It’s important for me to be taken seriously as a songwriter”
The ‘Oliver’s Army’ singer first came to Rodrigo’s defence in 2021, after people noticed a similarity between the guitar riff on ‘Brutal’ and that of Costello’s ‘Pump It Up’. Responding to claims the track was “a direct lift from Elvis Costello”, the artist said, “this is fine by me”.
“It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.”
He then made references to ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ by Bob Dylan, which inspired Costello’s ‘Pump It Up’, and Chuck Berry’s ‘Too Much Monkey Business’, which influenced Dylan’s song.
Now, he’s once again spoken out about why he didn’t get lawyers involved to try to claim royalties from the track upon its release three years ago.
“Now, I did not find any reason to go after them legally for that, because I think it would be ludicrous,” Costello said in a new interview with Vanity Fair. “It’s a shared language of music. Other people clearly felt differently about other songs on that record.”
Costello was referring to Rodrigo’s 2021 debut album ‘Sour‘. Following its release, Taylor Swift, St. Vincent and Jack Antonoff were credited on the album track ‘Deja Vu’. This has since led to speculation that her 2023 hit song ‘Vampire’, which features a lyric referring to someone as a “bloodsucker, fame fucker”, was about Swift.
Paramore‘s Hayley Williams and former guitarist Joshua Farro also received credits on Rodrigo’s single ‘Good 4 U’, after similarities were pointed out between the song and Paramore’s 2007 hit ‘Misery Business’. “Our publisher is wildin rn [sic],” Williams wrote in an Instagram story, acknowledging the update.
Rodrigo later said that criticism of the originality of her songwriting was misguided. “I think it’s disappointing to see people take things out of context and discredit any young woman’s work,” Rodrigo said.
“All music is inspired by each other. Obviously, I write all of my lyrics from my heart and my life first. I came up with the lyrics and the melody for ‘good 4 u’ one morning in the shower.”
Rodrigo went on to suggest drawing on music from the past was an inevitability when it comes to the songwriting process, making the case that that influence is a positive overall.
“Every single artist is inspired by artists who have come before them,” she said. “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.”
