Elvis Costello has once again explained why he didn’t get litigious over similarities between his “Pump It Up” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Brutal,” and even defended the pop singer over the track.
When “Brutal” first arrived as the opening track on Rodrigo’s Sour back in 2021, listeners were quick to note how similar the single’s chord structure was to Costello’s 1978 hit.
“This is fine by me,” Costello said on social media when asked about “Brutal.” “It’s how rock & roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did,” referring to how “Pump It Up” itself was inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”
In a new interview with Vanity Fair three years after the release of “Brutal,” Costello was again asked about keeping lawyers out of the situation (and missing out on potentially millions in royalties).
“Now, I did not find any reason to go after them legally for that, because I think it would be ludicrous,” Costello said. “It’s a shared language of music. Other people clearly felt differently about other songs on that record.”
Other artists weren’t as passive when it comes to Rodrigo’s music, with the singer retroactively crediting Taylor Swift and Paramore on her songs “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 U,” respectively.
In 2023, Rolling Stone asked Rodrigo, if put in a similar situation as Costello, would she sue over another artist’s song sharing a likeness to her own. “I don’t think I would ever personally do that,” Rodrigo said at the time. “But who’s to say where I’ll be in 20, 30 years. All that I can do is write my songs and focus on what I can control.”
From Rolling Stone US
