3
Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicIt’s a bad idea, right?
Taylor Swift has been one of the biggest pop stars of our lifetime, constantly breaking the internet with every move she makes. Now, what was once a friendship, seemingly, is now turning into a lawsuit, and her fans are happy about her decision.
If you have been paying attention to the music industry over the past few months, you know that Taylor Swift has been single-handedly dominating the nation, and world with her Eras Tour, celebrating all of her past albums in one collective performance. The artist has repeatedly broken Ticketmaster and has fans traveling the globe, following her from show to show, paying thousands for tickets, replicating her costumes, and crying uncontrollably at her performance.
Some analysts have attributed the economic boost that certain cities have received to her performance.
Swift has even been the cause of a “Beast Quake”, which is a Swiftie’s version of an earthquake. CBS News shared the information, “At two “Eras” tour concerts at Seattle’s Lumen Field on July 22 and 23, Swift and her fans managed to make enough noise and movement to actually rock the ground beneath them for four straight hours, causing a “Swift Quake,” according to Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University. While the seismic event caused by the concert was not an actual earthquake, its occurrence is still the subject of great curiosity amongst experts and pop fans alike.”
Swift has also become so popular that she has impersonators who have been faking their way around Disneyland!
Ashley Leechin, a viral TikToker, has been embarking on a social experiment where she pretends to be Taylor Swift in public, to surprisingly convincing degrees. Leechin visited many places dressed as the singer, convincing millions that Taylor Swift was actually wherever she was. Leechin visited the Disneyland Resort one day, convincing Guests that the legendary singer stopped by for a ride on Space Mountain.
Leechin was accompanied by security while she visited the Resort. Despite the popularity and fame, while fake, Leechin has come out and called the social experiment “horrific.” The impersonator has since received tons of flack from Swifties upset by her attempt to steal Taylor’s identity.
But, Leechin is not the “star” on trial here.
Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley even had their rehearsal dinner stormed after fans found out Swift was there. The behavior elicited so much fear from the singer and fans that when she entered Mexico City, she did so with tons of security, most of which her fans believed were warranted. Now, Swift is dealing with the drama of another performer who has a very similar vibe to her.
Olivia Rodrigo is the star of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which is currently ending on Disney+ after its fourth season. She also became very popular due to her music with songs like “good 4 u”, “vampire”, “driver’s license” bad idea right?”, and more which all stemmed from her breakup with co-star and on-screen love interest Joshua Bassett.
The idea of writing love songs and a break up album resonated with many, calling her the next Taylor Swift. In the beginning, Swift did show mega support for the Disney star, as well.
Now, Taylor Swift Facts (@blessedswifty) has noted: “X has added a community note to a post reporting that Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams pursued legal action against Olivia Rodrigo.”
X has added a community note to a post reporting that Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams pursued legal action against Olivia Rodrigo. pic.twitter.com/BSpKfWQKoK
— Taylor Swift Facts (@blessedswifty) September 3, 2023
Williams, lead singer of Paramore, has a song “Misery Business” that sounds just like “good 4 u”, so much so that Williams has even transitioned into singing Olivia’s song from her own while on tour to show how similar the music is.
Previously, it hasn’t been confirmed publicly that Taylor actually sued Olivia. However, it’s true that Taylor and her team did accuse Olivia of copyright infringement of Taylor’s song “Cruel Summer.”
When Olivia’s album “Sour” was released in May 2021, fans noticed similarities between her song “Deja Vu” and Taylor’s song “Cruel Summer.”
According to Buzzfeed News, this was resolved in July of that year when Taylor, and her co-collaborators on the song, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent, all quietly received credits for Olivia’s “Deja Vu.”
They received credit on the track apparently due to the interpolation of “Cruel Summer” on “Deja Vu.” This means that parts of “Cruel Summer” had been rerecorded and incorporated into Oliva’s “Deja Vu.”
The trio also became entitled to a 50 percent stake in the song’s royalties, which amounted to $325,678 in publishing royalties for Taylor, $260,542 for Jack, and $65,135 for St. Vincent.
While Olivia never tried to challenge these claims, she did tell Time that, “It was really frustrating to see people discredit and deny my creativity.”
As for Haley, Rodrigo and her producer and co-writer, Daniel Nigro, have given half of the royalties from her single “good 4 u” to Paramore’s Hayley Williams and former guitarist Josh Farro.
But is Rodrigo actually guilty of anything? In comparison to “Misery Business,” for instance, “good 4 u” may share a similar melody and chord progressions; they’re both guitar-heavy and lyrically angsty. But they have differentiating factors as well. In the Swift situation, it’s not even the entirety of Rodrigo’s song that sounds similar, it’s simply a facet of it. (And many argue that “deja vu” isn’t the strongest case of interpolation, despite Rodrigo verbally saying she was inspired by “Cruel Summer”).
In the end, it seems that Taylor Swift did once again come out on top.
Recently, Taylor Swift has once again broken the internet with her announcement that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film will be coming to AMC Theaters in the U.S., Canada & Mexico. That being said, the prices are a lot higher than you would pay to watch a regular film at AMC.
These tickets are being sold for $19.89 plus tax for adults and $13.13 for children and seniors plus tax (except for AMC’s branded premium large-format screens.) With 1989 being one of Taylor’s albums and 13 being her lucky number, this is a cheeky choice but also, a much more costly one.
AMC typically charges $14.89 for adults and $11.89 for children during evening hours, with prices being even cheaper earlier in the day. With every U.S. AMC Theatre location will running the movie at least four times per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Swift is charging well over the typical ticket price for her film.
That being said, the film shattered pre-sale records.
What do you think about this feud between Swift and Rodrigo?