Olivia Rodrigo has once again been accused of being one of the worst things an artist could be: unoriginal. 

There has been a long history of it. After her first album “SOUR,” people accused her of ripping off the Pom Pom Squad by dressing as a cheerleader in latex gloves. There was also an interpolation (taking an existing work and adding it to a new work) of Cruel Summer from Taylor Swift, an artist that she has been inspired by. 

Courtney Love also took issue with the “SOUR” album cover art, claiming Rodrigo’s use of a crying prom queen was similar to her band “Hole,” which as some people pointed out wasn’t even invented by Love and was famously done by Carrie.  Most recently, her new song “ All-American B*tch” was compared to Miley Cryrus’ song “Flowers.” 

Rodrigo’s new album “Guts” stays away from everything that she got hate for. Rodrigo explored her personal style, moving away from her influence of Taylor Swift as she traded slow heartbreak songs for pop-rock. 

People compare her to stars who have been in the business for decades, an unfair comparison considering she just released her debut album two years ago. Critics expect her to already be great because she’s a pop star. 

They don’t want to give her any credit. In an industry where teen music is already perceived as derivative and unoriginal, it’s no surprise that Olivia Rodrigo gets painted as the villain.  However, it’s surprising that her peers get praised for it.

For example, while Disney-star-turned-pop-singer Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Nonsense” was compared to Ariana Grande, she was still praised. There is this obsession with the idea of originality especially with the extreme success that Rodrigo has had as a POC. People look at these similarities and write her off completely. 

Rodrigo told Teen Magazine, “it was really frustrating to see people discredit and deny my creativity. It seems like people get funny about things when songs get really popular.” She described it as a lesson in business, saying, “young women are constantly compared to each other. I’m just Olivia. I’m doing my own thing. It’s meaningful when people recognize that.”

Early Taylor Swift was inspired by 90s country. Hip-hop consistently uses sampling to make new sounds. The younger generation is inevitably going to be inspired by past generations. Do the people she is influenced by matter more than her own musical impact? 

Rodrigo said she would cry when seeing DM’s from little girls saying, “I’ve never seen someone who looked like me in your position.” She told V Magazine that she used to think that pop stars could only be white girls. Maybe her being here is enough to change that.