Olivia Rodrigo swiftly redirected the conversation when asked whether she’s made it to one of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour shows.
“I haven’t yet,” Rodrigo, 20, told The New York Times in a profile published on Thursday, August 24, citing her busy schedule as the reason she hasn’t been spotted in Swift’s VIP tent. (Rodrigo told the outlet she was heading to Europe the week the interview was conducted.)
Since she burst onto the scene, Rodrigo has been candid about her many musical inspirations — and has counted Swift, 33, as one of the biggest. Rodrigo even earned praise from her idol in 2020 after covering the Lover track “Cruel Summer.”
“THE TALENT,” Swift wrote via her Instagram Story at the time. “Love This!!! Thanks for this beautiful performance @olivia.rodrigo @mtv.”
An overwhelmed Rodrigo later took to Twitter with her reaction to Swift’s shout-out, joking that she wanted to frame a screenshot of the Story and “hang it above my firstborn’s crib.”
Rodrigo and Swift eventually connected in person at the 2021 Brit Awards, exchanging handwritten notes to one another. “It’s so crazy to me these people I looked up to are now my peers,” Rodrigo gushed to Ryan Seacrest in March 2021 after the meetup.
However, the pair’s friendship appeared to shift following the release of Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, two months later. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Swift and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff were subtly given songwriting credits on Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu” and “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back.”
While neither Swift nor Antonoff, 39, actually worked with Rodrigo on the tracks, Rolling Stone reported in May 2021 that “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” is an interpolation of Swift’s Reputation ballad “New Year’s Day.” (Some listeners were also convinced that the digits chosen by Rodrigo for the song’s title were a nod to Swift’s lucky number, 13.)
As for “Deja Vu,” Rodrigo revealed that the single was loosely inspired by “Cruel Summer,” telling Rolling Stone’s “The Breakdown” she wanted to “do something like” Swift’s 2019 hit.
Speculation of tension between the two artists continued earlier this year when Swift announced Sabrina Carpenter as the opening act of her Eras Tour concerts in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Rodrigo and Carpenter, 24, were famously involved in an alleged love triangle with Joshua Bassett, which is said to be the basis of Rodrigo’s debut single, “Drivers License.”
While Rodrigo hasn’t yet witnessed Swift’s three-hour stadium show, several A-listers were spotted in the crowds throughout the U.S. tour. Kyle Richards, Channing Tatum, Sofía Vergara and more turned up for Swift’s performances at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles — but all eyes were on Karlie Kloss during the final concert on August 9. (Swift and Kloss, 31, were BFFs for years before an alleged falling out in 2017.)
