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News, Politics, Culture, Life, Entertainment, and more. Stories that matter to you.Celebrity·Posted 18 minutes agoA Taylor Swift Song Reveals That She Has Feared Being Replaced By A Young Artist Like Olivia Rodrigo Since She Was 22 Years Old, And People Think It's The Root Of Their Rumored Feud
Reflecting on her fame at just 22 years old, Taylor asked: "Are we only biding time 'til I lose your attention and someone else lights up the room?"
by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed Staff
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On Saturday, speculation surrounding Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift's relationship once again reached fever pitch thanks to a new interview.
View this photo on Instagram
Instagram @OliviaRodrigo / Via instagram.com
Speaking to the Guardian ahead of the hotly-anticipated release of her sophomore album Guts, Olivia was asked about the theory that Guts' lead single "Vampire" is about Taylor.
"How do I answer this?" Olivia is reported to have whispered in response.
"I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about," she went on. "I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing... I was very surprised when people thought that.”
Of course it didn't take long for readers to pick up on the fact that Olivia didn't at all deny the theory, nor did she take the opportunity to dismiss the rumors that there is bad blood between her and her former mentor.
But to understand why people thought that "Vampire" was inspired by Taylor in the first place, we need to go back to the beginning. Like, the very beginning.
You may recall that back in 2021, the same year that Olivia entered the music scene, Taylor released her version of her 2012 album Red, complete with previously-unheard tracks "from the vault."
Fernando Leon / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
One of those vault songs was "Nothing New," which reveals that Taylor, now 33, has been anxiously fearing the day that she is replaced by a fresh, younger singer since she was 22 years old.
If you need reminding, Taylor was 17 when she first burst onto the scene, and this song was originally written for her fourth studio album.
"Lord, what will become of me once I've lost my novelty?" Taylor questions in "Nothing New," before singing in the chorus: "I've had too much to drink tonight / And I know it's sad, but this is what I think about / And I wake up in the middle of the night / It's like I can feel time moving."
AZ Lyrics / Via azlyrics.com
"Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?" she muses.
In the second verse, which was written by Taylor but is sung by her friend Phoebe Bridgers, the lyrics ask: "Are we only biding time 'til I lose your attention and someone else lights up the room? People love an ingénue."
But it's the bridge that is particularly telling, with Taylor openly admitting that she is dreading the day that she meets a young woman that is following in her industry footsteps.
"I know someday I'm gonna meet her, it's a fever dream / The kind of radiance you only have at 17 / She'll know the way, and then she'll say she got the map from me / I'll say I'm happy for her, then I'll cry myself to sleep," she sings.
AZ Lyrics / Via azlyrics.com
When Red (Taylor's Version) was released two years ago, many expressed their disbelief that "Nothing New" had actually been written almost 10 years prior as they questioned why Taylor would be worrying about becoming old news so early on in her career.
But one of the diary entries that the star published alongside a special edition of her 2019 album Lover confirms that this really was the case, and also offers a deeper insight into Taylor's thought process when she wrote the song.
"I've been thinking a lot about getting older and relevancy and how all my heroes have all ended up alone," the handwritten diary entry dated March 2012 reads. "I wrote a song on the plane ride from Perth to Sydney on the Appalachian dulcimer I bought the day of my flight. I bought it because Joni played one most of her Blue record. I taught myself to play 'A Case of You.'"
"Anyway, I wrote a song on it called 'Nothin New' and it's about being scared of aging and things changing and losing what you have," Taylor goes on. "It says 'I'm getting older and less sure of what you like about me anyway.' And in the chorus it says 'How can a person know everything at 18, and nothing at 22? And will you still want me.. when I'm nothin new.' It's a really vulnerable song, but I think it's important to say."
sooo this song was written in march of 2012… vault song maybe?! (the song is called “nothing new” and it’s on the second page!!) pic.twitter.com/siPfpipPpD
— ryan
