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Is Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” about… Taylor Swift? Rodrigo addressed fan speculation that Guts’ lead ballad, in which she sings caustically about a nameless “bloodsucker celebrity,” is somehow about one of her childhood idols.
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“How do I answer that?” Rodrigo reportedly whispered to Guardian journalist Laura Snapes when the question about “Vampire” came up during an interview ahead of the release of “Guts” on September 8.
“I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about,” Rodrigo said. “I’ve never done that in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better not to pigeonhole a song as being about that one thing.”
“I was very surprised when people thought that,” she added in the article published on Saturday (September 2).
Swift championed Rodrigo, who was a self-proclaimed Swiftie, early on. “I say this is my baby and I’m really proud,” she shared sweetly on social media as Rodrigo’s breakout hit “Drivers License” debuted on the charts alongside Swift’s music. Swift gave her a ring like the one she wore while working on her Red album — “She’s absolutely the nicest person in the whole world,” Rodrigo gushed at the time — and the two met in person and posed for a sweet photo together at the Brit Awards 2021.
After Rodrigo’s debut album Sour was released, the interpolations found in her work proved costly. Rodrigo eventually retroactively shared songwriting credits for “Deja Vu” with Swift, Jack Antonoff and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) for the throwback to Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” Prior to Sour’s release, she also gave Swift and Antonoff her writing credit for “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” for including an interpolation of Swift’s “New Year’s Day” in the song.
Rodrigo and Swift have apparently not had any contact with each other since then, at least not publicly. In a recent New York Times profile, Rodrigo said she didn’t see a show on Swift’s Eras Tour.
Back to the song meaning of “Vampire”: According to her, Rodrigo’s lyrics could have been inspired by a number of personal experiences that the singer-songwriter may have had since the release of “Drivers License” in 2021 – this is her answer to the question not really much at all.
“I hate giving satisfaction and asking how you are now. “How is the castle made up of people who pretend to care about you?” she sings in the opening of the song.
Later in the profile of Rodrigo and her second album, Guardian writer Snapes states in her own words that “‘Vampire’ is primarily about a romantic relationship with an older man.” Many of its lyrical quibbles actually point to this interpretation: There’s a line directed at a “cool guy” and one that points out that “every girl I’ve ever talked to has told me you’re bad, bad news.” In the second Verse of the title, Rodrigo says, “Went for me and not for her/Because girls your age know better.”
Read the full article here in the Guardian.