Elvis Costello Says Suing Olivia Rodrigo Over ‘Brutal’ Riff Would Be ‘Ludicrous’
Elvis Costello is fully in support of Olivia Rodrigo.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer shared his thoughts on Rodrigo’s Sour album opener, “Brutal,” which seemingly took inspiration from his angsty 1978 anthem “Pump It Up.” He told the publication that artists “allude to [the song] in their own arrangements. Like Olivia Rodrigo’s producer obviously did.”
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“Now, I did not find any reason to go after them legally for that, because I think it would be ludicrous,” Costello continued. “It’s a shared language of music. Other people clearly felt differently about other songs on that record.”
Costello is seemingly referring to a series of copyright issues with Rodrigo’s singles, including “Deja Vu,” which she once said was partly inspired by Swift’s “Cruel Summer” before quietly retroactively crediting Swift as a co-writer. A similar scenario went down with Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” on which she retroactively credited and split royalties with Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro after listeners pointed out similarities between the song and “Misery Business.”
The “Radio, Radio” star previously defended Rodrigo on social media back in 2021, responding to a user who pointed out that “Brutal” and “Pump It Up” sound similar. “This is fine by me, Billy,” he told the X user. “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.”
He also included the hashtags “#subterreneanhomesickblues” and “#toomuchmonkeybusiness,” in reference to the respective Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry songs that influenced “Pump It Up.”
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