It’s no surprise many of Olivia Rodrigo’s songs off her 2021 debut album “SOUR” sound nostalgic. After all, she was born in the early 2000s and grew up listening to the iconic artists of that time.
There’s been tons of mashups between her song “Good 4 You” and rock band Paramore’s iconic song “Misery Business” on social media.
According to a Wednesday Billboard article, Paramores lead singer Hayley Williams and lead guitarist Josh Farro share the 1.2 million dollars of royalties with Olivia Rodrigo and her producer Dan Nigro.
But does Paramore deserve to take credit for Rodrigo’s song?
Even though the songs have similar choruses and chords, they’re still very different. Ask any hardcore Paramore fan and they’ll tell you the songs aren’t similar at all.
Paramore released “Misery Business” in 2007, a time when everything was pop-punk and dominated by male bands. Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, and her bright orange hair gave girls something they lacked: the freedom to rage.
Paramore undoubtedly gave fans a soundtrack to teenage angst and anger.
14 years later, Rodrigo’s album does have a similar focus on angst and anger, but it also takes a slightly different route and focuses on heartbreak as well.
Her album transitions from breakup ballads to angry anthems about all the times boys have wronged her.
And yes, Rodrigo was clearly inspired by Paramore, but she most certainly did not copy them.
If Hayley Williams and Josh Farro deserve songwriting credit, then many artists can say the exact same thing.
More and more teenagers born between 1997 and 2012 have been blatant in taking inspiration from the artists they grew up listening to and trying to emulate those albums they loved so much.
According to an Aug. 27 Instagram post by Halsey, they have always wanted to make a record that sounds like “Nine Inch Nails,” which led to a collaboration between the two for pop singer-songwriter Halsey’s latest album, “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.”
Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes also frequently uses guitar riffs that sound like John Mayer and has cited Mayer as one of his biggest influences.
The same goes for Rodrigo.
Pop sensation Taylor Swift is featured as a songwriter for Rodrigo’s songs, “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” and “Deja Vu,” but that doesn’t mean those songs belong to Swift.
None of these musicians are “copycats” just because they take influence from other artists.
Originality in music is a far-fetched goal. Even when music sounds unique, it’s probably combining elements from songs that already exist.
Artists even go as far as interpolating, a practice in which a musician will take a part of a song and re-record it to fit their new track according to a 2018 Rolling Stone article.
This is slightly different from sampling, which takes the sounds directly from the track without re-recording it, according to the Songtrust Samples webpage.
Songtrust is a company that provides musicians with publishing information.
In the case of Rodrigo’s “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” it was an interpolation. However, both sampling and interpolation are used frequently in today’s songs.
Rapper Kanye West is an artist who famously samples music and is still one of the most respected producers out there.
Now if the popular pop rock band, The 1975, released “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” in the early 2000s, they probably wouldn’t have garnered the same response.
The band looked at the state of pop culture at the time, took inspiration from their favorite artists, then created something entirely new.
The 1975 explores everything from the age of online dating apps to the current political climate. They reference former president Donald Trump and Kanye West in a time when both names are seen in nearly every newscast.
Same goes for Olivia Rodrigo.
Teenagers nowadays are dominated by social media’s culture, where they are caught in a cycle of comparison. SOUR dives into this theme and gives girls an outlet for their sadness.
Now, back to Paramore and Rodrigo. Both musical acts are fundamentally different because they released music that was indicative of the culture during their time.
It would be unreasonable for artists to receive songwriting credit every single time a musician sounds slightly similar. They may share the same genre and maybe the same chords but their aesthetics are completely different.
The world influences each artist differently and Rodrigo is clearly drenched in heartbreak as reflected in her album and Paramore is more based in revenge.
The context is different. The heartbreak is different.
