It is no secret that Olivia Rodrigo is becoming one of our generations best songwriters. She has gone from being a lesser known Disney channel actress, to finding fame on High School Musical the Musical the Series. She was noticed for her songwriting skills on “All I Want”, which went viral on tik tok and was featured in hsmtmts. Her first song “Drivers License” was an absolute hit, and was at the top of the charts for multiple weeks. Then came the drama surrounding Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter, which only helped her career. This led to more anticipation for her new song “Deja Vu” which came out this past Thursday.
My very first impression of the song was that it was very Taylor Swift. I think that a lot of people had this opinion, as the ending sounded almost identical to “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift. Also, the way she sings the song going into falsetto for much of the song, is reflective of Taylor Swift. Based on Olivia Rodrigos social media, it is no secret that she idolizes Taylor Swift. She was most likely trying to capture her inner Taylor Swift when writing the song, and I think she did that.
I obviously think the song is very well written, but I didn’t think it was as unique “Drivers License”. I feel like I have heard “Deja Vu” before from other current artists, but I have not felt that way about her other songs. Still, there is no denying that she is one of the best musical artists right now, and I don’t think that will end anytime soon. She recently announced that her first album is coming out on May 21, so it will be exciting to hear a wider variety of her songwriting abilities.