Olivia Rodrigo reveals how an ice cream trip inspired 'Vampire' 🍦
From the inspiration to the writing process...
Last updated 8th Sep 2023
With the arrival of Olivia Rodrigo's second album 'Guts', here at Downtown Radio we caught up with Olivia for For The Record. We all know and love Olivia's music from 'Drivers License' to 'Good 4 U', and 'Vampire' to 'Bad Idea Right?', so this was a chance to get to know Olivia's music even more, and find out why she was inspired to write her popular song.
Our For The Record series goes behind the hits to find out more about the inspirations behind the music and how the song was written.
What was the inspiration behind 'Vampire'?
Olivia Rodrigo told us all about her song 'Vampire' from getting inspiration from "90s girls who aren't afraid to be angry", to how grabbing an ice cream in Santa Monica with friends started the writing process for her hit.
Olivia Rodrigo opens up about her song 'Vampire' on For The Record:
Despite having the word Vampire in her Notes app for a while, it was while she was out with friends that she came up with the idea for the song.
"I was getting ice cream with my friends in Santa Monica," Olivia recollected. "I was feeling a 'type of way' and I was like, I have to get something to get off my chest. I need to like, get into studio instead of piano and write a song."
She continued: "I had that like feeling inside of me, and so I went to the studio and I sat down at the piano and I wrote the first iteration of this song. It's gone through many iterations, and my producer Dan (Nigro) helped me a lot, and help me and make it what it is today.
"Yeah, it all started from an ice cream trip that went awry!"
Is 'Vampire' about Taylor Swift?
Ever wondered what 'Vampire' is about? Despite many rumours that 'Vampire' is about Taylor Swift, Olivia revealed: "Vampire is a song about kind of realising how bad a relationship is, I suppose after you've gotten out of it, it's kind of rising from that disillusionment."
She also revealed in an interview with The Guardian: "I was very surprised when people thought that. I never want to say who any of my songs are about. 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."
What inspired the sound of 'Vampire'?
'Vampire' is classed as a pop rock tune, and Olivia told us she was listening to a lot of 90s music when she was writing it. The singer said: "I was listening to a lot of like 90s singer songwriters at the time. I love like 90s girls who aren't afraid to be angry and remorseful and like spiteful and snarling. I was listening to a lot of those girls at the time as I am always I just love that music."
Watch the music video for 'Vampire':
WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE
What 'Vampire' lyrics is Olivia particularly proud of?
With song lyrics starting: 'Hate to give the satisfaction, asking how you're doing now / How's the castle built off people you pretend to care about? / Just what you wanted / Look at you, cool guy, you got it,' we wanted to know if there were any lyrics that Olivia was particularly proud of. And there were!
The 20-year-old singer told us that she'd been trying to get a certain lyric into a song for a long time, and finally she managed to. Olivia explained: "I've been trying to fit in the lyric. ‘How do you lie without flinching?’ into a song for a really long time, it's just an interesting concept to me.
"It's something I think about all the time, I'm such a bad liar. Me lying… I'm like my eyes are like all over the room. I'm like fidgeting, I'm sweating, and so it's always been really interesting to me how easily some people can lie, and it's always kind of freaked me out.
"So yeah, I've been trying to fit. That one in for a while, so I got it in this song."
'Vampire's alternative lyrics
Olivia opened up about how it was hard to write some alternative lyrics to make it radio friendly. "We definitely cut out some really dirty, filthy clean version ones for the TikTok," Olivia admitted. The singer shared some clips on TikTok giving some different lyrics, she ultimately decided on 'dream crusher'.
Why is 'Vampire' unique?
As a songwriter, Olivia told us she normally writes the lyrics first. "I usually am a very lyric oriented songwriter," she explained. "Songs from me usually start with a seed of a lyrical idea or a title, but actually this song is unique in how it was created.
"I came up with the chords first. I set the chords in 'Vampire', the really beautiful and inspiring, and after playing those chords that kind of, I was like, oh, maybe I can call the song 'Vampire' it sounds kind of Gothic and you know the rest of the song kind of came from that."
Olivia on her second album 'Guts'
Olivia's first album 'Sour' was hugely successful and she admitted that she felt the pressure when it came to releasing a 'sophomore album'.
"So the first few months of writing the album (‘Guts’) I remember were really tricky and I felt a little lost," she said.
"But I stuck with it and I kind of had to shift my mindset into trying to make an album that was just something that I would enjoy listening to and that sounds really simple, but just thinking about making music for that sole purpose makes it so much more fun."
She went on to explain it was: "Super fun and happy and shiny every day there were there were some, some low moments"
Take a look through Olivia Rodrigo's amazing career:
2016 - Olivia played Paige Olvera in Bizaardvark
Disney Channel series Bizaardvark starred Olivia as Paige Olvera, one of two best friends who post funny songs and videos on the internet. Olivia appeared in three series of the TV show between 2016 and 2018.
2019 - Olivia stars in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Back in 2019, Olivia took on the main role of Nini Salazar-Roberts, a musical theatre enthusiast, in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Olivia also wrote the song 'All I Want' for the TV show.
2021 - Olivia released 'Drivers License'
'Drivers License' was Olivia's first single and it went to Number 1 around the world. The song, which was written by Olivia and Dan Nigro, has been nominated for many awards including two MTV Video Music Awards which it won for Song of the Year and Push Performance of the Year. The song has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
2021 - Olivia released 'Deja Vu'
Olivia's second single 'Deja Vu' was another commercial success. Again, the song was written by Olivia along with Dan Nigro. Taylor Swift and two other songwriters also get a songwriting credit as it interpolates Taylor's song 'Cruel Summer'. In September 2024, the single was certified 2x Platinum.
2021 - Olivia released 'Good 4 U'
Once again, a song co-written by Olivia had commercial success. 'Good 4 U' was nominated for several awards, including a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.
2021 - Olivia meets Presient Joe Biden
Olivia Rodrigo met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The singer was involved with efforts to promote Covid-19 vaccinations with young people in the US.
2021 - Olivia is nominated for seven Grammy awards
Olivia Rodrigo received seven Grammy nominations including four in the big categories, best album, best new artist, record of the year and song of the year, for 'Drivers License'.
In response to her nominations, Olivia took to Instagram saying: 'woke up this morning to 7 Grammy nominations. when I was younger, my family lived a few blocks from the staples center, where the Grammys took place every year. I would always walk outside the arena and look at the plaques on the ground with all the winners names in wide eyed wonder. i went to the Grammy museum so many of my free weekends bc I was so fascinated by the history of the show and all of the incredible musicians that made it up. many dreams have come true for me this year but this one is probably the most meaningful. thank you to everyone who has believed in me and supported the songs I write. and thank you to @recordingacademy for the recognition. I'm beyond humbled. truly a day I will never forget. so grateful aghhh❤️💜❤️💜' (sic)
2022 - Olivia wins her first BRIT Award
A year after making her debut UK performance at The BRIT Awards 2021, Olivia picked up her very first BRIT win! At The BRIT Awards 2022 with Mastercard, Olivia bagged herself the award for International Song of the Year, for her track 'Good 4 U'.
2022 - Olivia Rodrigo won three Grammys
In 2022, Olivia also won three Grammy awards, Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Sour', Best New Artist and Best Pop Solo Performance for 'driver's license'.
The singer also performed at the prestigious awards ceremony.
2022 - Olivia reflects on one year since 'Sour' release
Olivia Rodrigo took to Instagram one year on from the release of her debut album 'Sour' to reflect on her amazing achievements and thank fans for their support. She also shared a video, where she said: "This past year, it's been a lot of career milestones, but I'm freshly 19 and there's so many things that I'm learning and just normal teenage milestones that I'm going through."
2022 - High School Musical TV series confirms Olivia's exit
In July 2022, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series creator and showrunner Tim Federle confirmed that season three would be Olivia's last on the show, saying: "I think she's ready to explore the world outside the halls of East High."
He continued: "And Olivia herself was having such a monumental explosion in the music industry that it felt like the right thing to, frankly, work with Olivia to say, 'How do we get you out there into the world with us taking a little bit more of a backseat?', which we were all proud to do to support her."
Olivia's role will be phased out throughout the third season of the Disney+ show, with Tim adding: "This season it's about trying to give her character a proper send-off while also leaving room for other characters to really step into the fray and step into the spotlight."
2022 - The 'Sour Tour' comes to the UK
Olivia set out on her 'Sour Tour' in April 2022, with shows coming to the UK in July. First heading to Glasgow on 2nd, she then went to Manchester on 3rd and Birmingham on 4th, before rounding up her tour with two shows at London's Eventim Apollo on 6th and 7th.
2023 - Comeback song 'Vampire'
Olivia Rodrigo announced her comeback song 'Vampire' would be released on 30th June. Teasing the date on her socials, with a countdown on her website, the song was a certified hit upon it's release. Peaking at Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, the song was also certified Silver in August 2023.
2023 - Olivia Rodrigo releases a song from The Hunger Games soundtrack
Olivia Rodrigo has now released her song 'Can't Catch Me Now', which features on the soundtrack for the upcoming prequel of The Hunger Games titled: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
2024 - Olivia Rodrigo receives two BRIT Award nominations
Olivia Rodrigo received two BRIT Award nominations when they were announced on Wednesday 24th January, she is up for International Artist of the Year, and International Song of The Year ('Vampire').
2024 - Olivia Rodrigo announced for American Express presents BST Hyde Park 2025
Olivia will be headlining American Express presents BST Hyde Park 2025 on 27th June with special guests The Last Dinner Party and girl in red. These gig will be Olivia's biggest UK gig to date!
What is For The Record?
For The Record is a chance for fans to get to know their favourite artists' music even better. If you want to know about the inspiration behind the an artist's song and the writing process they went through, then you've come to the right place.
Now read:
Olivia Rodrigo's rise to fame: From Disney Channel to Grammy Awards
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Olivia Rodrigo releases new single 'bad idea right?'