Women are taking over the music industry. With the popularity of incredible artists that have been on the scene for a while, such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Beyoncé, and a renaissance of newer artists, such as Ice Spice and Olivia Rodrigo, comparisons between the two artists are inevitable.
The talent and impact that these lovely ladies have is undeniable. As Olivia Rodrigo gains popularity and Taylor Swift continues to break records, many fan accounts online compare their statistics.
When such fan accounts compare artists such as Swift and Lana Del Rey, the comments are filled with praises towards both women, saying things such as “two queens” or “mothers”. However, the same does not apply to Swift and Rodrigo.
The comments on these posts contain hurtful things towards Rodrigo, saying that she is a copy of Swift, unoriginal, or could never be as good as Swift. This is disgusting in so many ways.
First and foremost, Rodrigo has never claimed to be “the next Taylor Swift,” or even attempted to do so. She is open about her love for Swift but has never tried to outdo her.
Additionally, she has never copied Swift, except for the chord progression in “1 step forward, 3 steps back,” which Rodrigo was permitted by Swit to utilize, as she had used it in her song, “New Year’s Day”.
Rodrigo received backlash when her debut album, “SOUR”, was released, as people began to speculate that Rodrigo was copying Swift in “déjà vu” because of the way she sings “I know you get déjà vu”, which sounds like how Swift sings “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you” in “Cruel Summer”.
While Swift made the style of yelling singing popular as a result of “Cruel Summer”, she did not invent it. The influence of her music is evident, but Rodrigo is not a new version of Swift or trying to be her.
In addition to the plagiarism allegations, many people online speculate that Rodrigo and Swift are fighting because of these allegations. People have said that some of Rodrigo’s new songs, including “Vampire” and “Lacy” are about Swift, which is absolutely ludicrous, as the alleged feud is nonexistent, as well as the confirmation that “Lacy” was written long beforehand and “vampire” is more reflective of someone else.
In a recent interview, Rodrigo confirmed that “I don’t have beef with anybody.”
Since Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are currently both on tour, there have been many comments and posts online comparing the two and saying how insignificant Beyoncé’s tour is in comparison to Swift’s.
While the impact of the Eras Tour is incredible, Beyoncé’s is also very influential. Both women are wildly successful and talented.
While I personally don’t listen to Beyoncé, I still admire and respect everything she has done in her career and the impact she has had on the music industry.
There is no reason to tear her or Rodrigo down because someone else is seen as more successful.
As spoken by Swift herself, “We see you over there on the Internet, comparing all the girls who are killin’ it, but we figured you out, we all know now, we all got crowns, you need to calm down.”