Taylor Swift and other songwriters are not in contention for Grammys for Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’.
The Recording Academy has explained why those credited for interpolation are not eligible for awards in response to a series of songwriting credit updates for the chart-topping LP by the 18-year-old pop superstar.
This means that Taylor, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent (Annie Clark) have been removed from the ballot for Album of the Year for the record, despite being added to the songwriting credits for Olivia’s song ‘Deja Vu’.
‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back’ on the album also interpolates Taylor’s ‘New Year’s Day’, which was penned by the ‘Shake It Off’ hitmaker and Jack.
Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro are also in the same boat, as they received writers credits for her hit ‘good 4 u’, after fans and music critics made comparisons between the track and the emo-pop group’s 2007 track, ‘Misery Business’, with a mashup of the two songs originally shared on TikTok racking up millions of views on YouTube.
In a statement regarding their guidelines, The Recording Academy said: “Last week, we received the correct credits from the label that recognise Annie Clark, Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift as songwriters of an interpolation on the track, ‘Deja Vu’.
“In keeping with current Grammy guidelines, as songwriters of an interpolated track, Clark, Antonoff and Swift are not nominees in the album of the year category for ‘Sour.’”
Meanwhile, Olivia recently insisted it’s “disappointing” that her work has been “discredited” for its similarities to other artists’ songs.
The ‘drivers license’ star insisted “nothing is ever new” in music and she can’t understand why people made a big commotion out of it.
She said: “I think it’s disappointing to see people take things out of context and discredit any young woman’s work.
“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.
“Every single artist is inspired by artists who have come before them.
“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.”
Olivia, a die-hard Swiftie, previously revealed ‘Cruel Summer’ inspired ‘Deja Vu’.
She explained: “I wanted [the bridge] to be really high energy because the rest of the song is very serene and eerily calm.
“But I wanted the last bridge to kind of go crazy and I love ‘Cruel Summer,’ it’s one of my favourite songs ever. I love the harmonised yells she does. I feel like they’re super electric and moving, so I wanted to do something like that.”