It’s no secret that Taylor Swift inspired some of the songs on Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, SOUR. Swift was already credited on “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” because Rodrigo used a sampling of the piano from “New Year’s Day.” But as reported by Rolling Stone, Swift has now also been credited in “Deja Vu” as a co-writer, along with other new additions Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent. Pitchfork reached out to representatives for Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift for comment, but neither artist has issued a statement yet. When contacted by The A.V. Club for this story, representatives for St. Vincent declined to comment.
The song’s twinkling piano sounds a lot like Radiohead’s “No Surprises,” so it’s a bit of a surprise that Thom Yorke isn’t credited as well, but perhaps that similarity wasn’t intentional. As for Swift’s new credit, Rodrigo told Rolling Stone in a video interview breaking down the song that the yelling in the bridge (“I hope you get deja vu!”) was inspired by “Cruel Summer” from Swift’s 2019 album, Lover. “It’s one of my favorite songs ever. I love like the yelly vocals in it, like the harmonized yells that [Taylor Swift] does, I think they’re like super electric and moving, so I wanted to do something like that,” the singer explains in the video. Since Antonoff and St. Vincent co-wrote the song with Swift, they get credited, too.
We wonder if the new credits in “Deja Vu” also mean that Paramore singer Hayley Williams will be credited as a songwriter in “Good 4 U.” The track takes inspiration from Paramore’s hit “Misery Business” and the song was credited as a sample in SOUR on Genius. But the credit didn’t seem to be official, as it was scrubbed off the site shortly after.