How much is Paramore earning for this Olivia Rodrigo song?
Members of Paramore and Taylor Swift have earned millions of dollars since being given songwriting credit for songs on Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, SOUR. The Paramore members who are earning royalties for Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” are Hayley Williams and Josh Farro. SOUR is one of the biggest albums of the year, with hit songs like “Drivers License”, “Deja Vu”, and “Good 4 U”.
Giving Williams, Farro, and Swift songwriting credits belatedly not only means they’ll be making money in royalties from the songs starting when their names were officially added – but it also means they’ll be compensated for the royalties they’ve already missed out on from before they were credited. SOUR is one of the most-streamed albums of 2021 and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.
Though most listeners have been enjoying SOUR, it was those same listeners who began to point out the similarities on social media, particularly Tik Tok. This is what seemingly led to Rodigo giving songwriting credit to Williams, Farro, and Swift.
Paramore similarities
“Good 4 U” shares a lot of similarities with Paramore’s 2007 hit “Misery Business” from their album Riot!. Both are pop-punk tracks with similar melodies in both the chorus and the verses. Prior to adding Williams and Farro as co-writers, only Olivia Rodrigo and producer Dan Nigro were listed as songwriters on the track.
“Good 4 U” went number one in sixteen countries, including the U.S. It was the third single from SOUR, and the success of the song made the album the first debut album to have two number-one singles in the US, according to the Billboard charts.
Though “Misery Business” didn’t chart as highly as “Good 4 U”, it was Paramore’s biggest hit at the time it was released. It was later dethroned by “Ain’t It Fun”, a single from one of the band’s later albums, which debuted a more pop-centric sound for the band. Despite the success of the track, Paramore retired “Misery Business” from their live shows due to lyrics in the second verse that have been viewed as sexist.
Taylor Swift similarities
“Deja Vu” was released as the second single from SOUR. Where “Good 4 U” shares a lot of musical similarities with “Misery Business”, “Deja Vu” interpolates Swift’s “Cruel Summer”, a song from her album Lover. Both are pop tracks, but “Deja Vu” takes a more mellow approach compared to Swift’s synth-heavy original.
“Deja Vu” didn’t chart quite as high as its predecessor, “Driver’s License”, or its follow-up, “Good 4 U”, but it was still a big hit. It wound up in the Billboard top 10, though it didn’t reach number 1. Olivia Rodrigo was open from the start about how “Cruel Summer” influenced the track.
“Cruel Summer”, aka Taylor’s Swift’s best pop song (we said what we said) was co-written by Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark. It wasn’t released as a single for Taylor Swift’s album Lover, and for that we must live with our regret (and “Me!”).
“Deja Vu” isn’t the only Olivia Rodrigo song Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff are credited on. Another song from SOUR, “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back”, once again interpolates a Swift song, this time “New Year’s Day” from her album Reputation.
Swift released “New Years Day” as a single from her Reputation album. The song is more acoustic than anything else on the Reputation album, and is widely regarded as one of the best songs from that album. Also, a (very weird) fun fact: apparently it made Jimmy Fallon (?) cry.
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Do you think Olivia Rodrigo was right to credit these artists on her songs? Or, like Adam Levine, frontman of the “band” Maroon 5, do you feel differently? He made some comments recently about how the controversy is stupid or something, and we would like to point out that we haven’t forgotten the way he once dissed Gaga, or how she totally owned him in response. Some people never learn.
Let us know your thoughts on all this business in the comments!
