Wed, June 10, 2026 at 6:14 PM UTCElvis Costello has doubled down on his defense of Olivia Rodrigo amid that song credits debacle — pointing out that plenty of artists have similar-sounding songs, and it’d be “arrogant” to demand credit.
John Nacion / Getty Images
As I am sure you know, Olivia’s friendship with pop superstar Taylor Swift — who is 13 years Olivia’s senior — soured after Taylor was inexplicably given credits on one of the then-teen breakout’s biggest hits.
Prior to the release of Olivia’s debut album, Sour, she’d been open about what a huge fan she was of Taylor’s, and the two appeared to feign a sweet protégé/mentor-esque friendship. And Taylor’s musical influence over Olivia’s work was at its most apparent in her song “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” which was released with an approved credit to Taylor as it uses an interpolation of her track “New Year’s Day.”
Gilbert Flores / Getty Images
Related: “How “Boy Meets World’s” Costume Designer Tried To Protect Young Danielle Fishel”
Discussing how this credit came to be in a subsequent interview with Zach Sang, Olivia explained: “I came up with the ‘1 Step Forward’ concept and I sort of wrote a verse and a chorus. I was in the car on a road trip, and when I got home, I decided to sing it over the chords of ‘New Year’s Day.’ I think they’re really beautiful chords. I was lucky enough to get that approved, and it’s on the record.”
Kevin Winter / Getty Images
While this interpolation was authorized by Taylor’s team and dutifully credited by Olivia prior to her album’s May 2021 release, that July, fans noticed that Taylor had been retroactively credited on Olivia’s blockbuster single “Deja Vu.” Taylor and her collaborators Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent’s names were added alongside Olivia’s and songwriter-producer Dan Nigro.
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images
It later transpired that this addition was apparently due to the reported interpolation of Taylor’s song “Cruel Summer” in the hit, however, fans of both Olivia’s and Taylor’s fail to see any similarity in the two songs. If you want to listen for yourself, you can check out “Deja Vu” here and “Cruel Summer” here.
Nbc / Getty Images
Then in September, Paramore’s Hayley Williams — who is close friends with Taylor — and Joshua Farro were retroactively given songwriting credits on Olivia’s hit single “Good 4 U” because of the similarities it apparently shares with Paramore’s 2007 single “Misery Business.” Olivia’s song can be heard here, and Paramore’s here.
Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
Related: “23 Celeb Scandals That Actually Boosted Their Fame”
Billboard later reported that with the credits Olivia had given up a huge sum of money in royalties, with Taylor, Jack, and St. Vincent said to receive a combined share of 50% of the royalties for “Deja Vu,” and Hayley and Joshua receiving an estimated combined share of 50% for “Good 4 U.” It’s worth noting that the Sour songs to have credits taken were two of Olivia’s hit singles.
Jim Dyson / Getty Images
While the entire situation unfolded in private, other artists came forward to defend Olivia amid the claims that she’d ripped off other artists, and one of them was music legend Elvis Costello. It was claimed that Olivia had copied a guitar riff from his song “Pump It Up” in her track “Brutal,” but at the time, he rubbished the scandal, tweeting: “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.”
Elvis Costello / Via x.comAnd the 71-year-old star has now doubled down on his stance, throwing low-key shade at Taylor and co. as he argued that it is actually “arrogant” for musicians to demand credit on other people’s work.
Taylor Hill / Getty Images
In a new interview with the Times of London, Elvis said of his choice not to sue Olivia for credits: “That’s too silly to talk about.”
Xavi Torrent / Getty Images
Related: “17 Celebrity Downfalls People Think Were Undeserved And Just Plain Mean”
“Well, I met Olivia, and she was lovely,” he went on. “I said, look, this is just a riff, and how could I be arrogant enough to sue on the basis of originality when my song is based on ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’? Did Bob Dylan sue me? He teased me about it but didn’t sue. And did Chuck Berry sue Bob because his song was like ‘Too Much Monkey Business’?”
Lester Cohen / Getty Images
It’s worth clarifying at this point that there is no evidence that Taylor actively sued Olivia over the songwriting credits, but it is thought that her team reached out to Olivia’s team, who gave them up without pushback. Speaking to Rolling Stone shortly after the incident, Olivia confessed that she “was a little caught off guard” by the way that other people took credit for her music. She said: “At the time, it was very confusing, and I was green and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Olivia then clarified that it was her team who handled the situation, and she wasn’t “super involved in” the ins and outs of how it was resolved.
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images
She has also suggested that there is now bad blood between her and Taylor. “It was really frustrating to see people discredit and deny my creativity,” Olivia said to Time shortly after she became the second youngest artist to be nominated in all four of the general Grammy categories in the same ceremony — including the much-coveted “Album of the Year.” Her producer Dan pointedly added to the publication: “It seems like people get funny about things when songs become really popular.”
Amy Sussman / Getty Images
More recently, Olivia was asked about the situation as she returned to the media circuit to promote her upcoming third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which included a wide-ranging, 90-minute interview with the New York Times’ Popcast podcast.
Cindy Ord / Getty Images
Considering how expansive the interview was, it’s unsurprising that the Taylor of it all eventually came up, with Olivia, now 23, first being asked about how she handles the constant scrutiny surrounding her interactions with other celebrities, to which Olivia said: “I don’t really read too far into it. I think it comes [with] the territory, and it’s par for the course. And I I think if I dove into every internet detective sleuth that got things right or wrong about my life, or any of my relationships, I think I’d just go crazy. There’s just not enough time in the day.”
Related: “11 Shocking Old Hollywood Child Star Secrets That Change Everything”
Host Jon Caramanica then directly asked: “Is there a frost between you and Taylor? Is that something that hovers over your mind? Is it something that you think is a construction of the people who are doing internet detective work? How do you view that now that you’re a few years removed from the initial ruptures?”
Popcast / New York Times / Via x.com
Olivia seemed emotional as she replied: “Um… I don’t know. I think I tried to not let it get to me, or upset me. I think I just try to keep it trucking. I think that now it was so long ago, I think there’s no use in harping on it. And, um, yeah, I just try to make songs that I love, and try to be kind and good to other people, and supportive of other people. And I’ve always tried to be like that… At the end of the day, I think that’s all you can do.”
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
You can read a more in-depth breakdown of the Olivia/Taylor drama here. In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on Elvis’s latest comments down below!More on this
Your daily brain workout: Most People Can’t Finish This Weekend Mega Word Chain — Can You?
Also in Celebrity: “2026’s Celebrity Breakups That Left Us Speechless”
Also in Celebrity: “Katherine Schwarzenegger Hired A “Stepparenting Coach” To Help Her With Chris Pratt’s Son, Jack”