"Vampire" is a haunting piano-backed lament that delves into the depths of a toxic relationship. In this maudlin and semi-gothic pop-rocker, Olivia Rodrigo recounts the tale of a boyfriend who manipulated her, fed her lies, and leeched off her fame. Rodrigo compares her ex-lover to a vampire, a creature that thrives on sucking the life force out of others. In this case, he took and took from her, leaving her emotionally depleted while offering nothing in return but empty promises.
"It's just a song about feeling used, and all of the anger and regret and heartbreak that comes with it,"
Rodrigo told Billboard. "And I think that's a common feeling, whether or not someone's famous. That was something that was just really bubbling inside of me - it's kind of an angry song, and I think I have a lot of trouble expressing feelings like anger and regret, those are particularly tough ones for me to express. I go to songwriting to get those feelings out that aren't super comfortable to express in everyday life. So it was a very therapeutic experience, writing this song."
In the first verse, we find ourselves amid a heartbroken piano ballad where a resentful Rodrigo addresses the guy who did her wrong. There's a venomous tone in her words, dripping with disdain.
She hates to give him the satisfaction of asking about his current state - how's that castle he built, surrounded by people he pretends to care about? It's just what he always wanted, playing the cool guy who has it all.
We continue with a slow and somber chorus as Rodrigo reflects on how this weirdo only ventured out at night - a clear warning sign she ignored. She had to learn the hard way that he was there to drain her life force and leach off her celebrity.
The second verse kicks things up a notch with a driving beat, intensifying the story. Others tried to warn her about this sociopath, but Rodrigo turned a deaf ear, only hearing what she wanted to hear. Every girl she talked to revealed his true colors, but he convinced her otherwise. How can he lie without even flinching? It's bewildering and infuriating.
The second chorus drives forward with a full drum track, amplifying the emotion. The bridge becomes a moment of pure evisceration as Rodrigo confronts him once again. He claimed it was true love, but could it really be? Loving someone would require a heart, something he seems to lack.
During the second verse, Rodrigo hints that the vampire was much older, using the age difference to take advantage of her. She takes a swipe at him for dating younger women, which gives us a clue as to the potential subject of the song.
Can't figure out just how you do it and God knows I never will
Went for me and not her
'Cause girls your age know better
Rodrigo wrote "Vampire" for her second album, Guts. The singer's late teens were marked by two relationships, each lasting approximately six months, both with older men.
First up was producer Adam Faze, a 24-year-old when Rodrigo was 18. They shared a seven-month journey together. The second romance involved DJ Zack Bia, who was 26 while Rodrigo was 19, and their love story lasted for six months.
Unfortunately, both relationships turned out to be toxic for Rodrigo. The online community remains divided regarding which of the two men, if not both, the song may be about. Let's explore the intriguing details.
On one side, Rodrigo and Faze went public with their romance at a film premiere on June 30, 2021, which intriguingly aligns with the release date of "Vampire" exactly two years later. On the other hand, Rodrigo has shared that she wrote the songs for Guts when she was 19. This age corresponds with her involvement with the then-26-year-old DJ Zack Bia.
It's possible Rodrigo channeled her emotions from both romances into "Vampire," capturing the essence of her experiences.
Rodrigo gets so mad on the chorus that she drops an F-bomb (changed into "dream crusher" on the clean version). "I listened to a lot of heavier stuff growing up and that's what I've always been drawn to," she told Apple Music's Zane Lowe about her cussing. "But I think in my regular day-to-day life, I don't get to express those feelings of rage and dirty s--t and messing s--t up."
"And I think in music, you have the freedom to express feelings that you don't get to express in your everyday life," Rodrigo added. "And so I think maybe that's why I'm so drawn to this, because I don't get to be messy every day in daily life and work."
Rodrigo co-wrote "Vampire" with Dan Nigro, the main producer on her blockbuster 2021 debut, Sour.
She started writing the song on piano in December 2022. "I remember writing it and feeling like something special was there," she told Billboard. "And I took it to my producer Dan, and we finished it up together and rewrote some things and produced it. It was quite a long production - it's pretty lush, so it took us a while. But I'm really happy with the way it came out."
The shape-shifting song starts off as a piano ballad soaked in themes of betrayal, reminiscent of the emotional impact of "
Drivers License." It bursts open into a pop-rock spectacle, unleashing a wave of jittery percussion and powerful vocal runs that embody wounded yet dramatic emotions.
"I was upset about a certain situation and went to the studio alone and sat down at the grand piano, and the chords and melody and lyrics just poured out of me - almost like an out-of-body experience," said Rodrigo. "It's a song about feeling confused and hurt, and at first I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad. But when Dan and I started working on it, we juxtaposed the lyrics with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now it's like a heartbreak song you can dance to."
Rodrigo released "Vampire" via Geffen Records as the first single from Guts on June 30, 2023. So why did she choose this rock opera to lead her second album? "I think as the album was coming together, we were coming up with a bunch of songs that we really liked, but this one always stuck out to me as something that I felt like was honoring my singer-songwriter roots, but felt like an evolution - in a good way that wasn't too stark," she explained. "And so I really liked it for that, and it was always one of my favorites."
Rodrigo recorded "Vampire" at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Nigro provided drum programming, sang backing vocals, and played guitar, percussion, piano, bass, Moog and synthesizer. The other musicians are:
Benjamin Romans: piano
Paul Cartwright: violin and viola
Sam Stewart: electric guitar
Sterling Laws: drums
Cartwright, Stewart and Laws also played on
Sour: Cartwright on "
Brutal" and "
Happier"; Laws on "
Deja Vu" and "
Jealousy, Jealousy"; Stewart on "
Hope Ur Ok."
Filmed in Los Angeles, the Petra Collins-directed video shows Rodrigo performing the song at an awards show. She captivates the audience until an unexpected twist takes center stage: A rogue stage light swings down, striking her shoulder with a powerful blow. But does that stop our fearless star? Absolutely not.
As the pounding beat intensifies, a resilient and bloodied Rodrigo continues to pour her heart into the performance. When security guards surround her, she flees the auditorium, setting off a heart-pounding chase through the city streets. As she runs, Rodrigo ascends above the bustling traffic, defying the laws of physics. Perhaps she has a hidden secret, a vampire-like power coursing through her veins.
Canadian photographer and fashion designer Petra Collins previously worked with Rodrigo on the visuals for her 2021 singles "
Good 4 U" and "Brutal."
Olivia Rodrigo came up with the Guts title before she released her 2021 debut Sour.
"I had it for a long time. I had it actually when I was making Sour," she told Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe. "I'm like, 'I want the next one to be Guts.' I had it in my head. I'm like, 'Four letters, all caps, just like Sour. I love it. I just think it's an interesting word. People use it in so many interesting contexts, like spill your guts. Hate your guts, I think is a really interesting term. Means bravery, but it also means intuition, like listen to your gut. I just think it's all of these things that coincidentally were things that I've really been thinking about in this chapter."
"Vampire" debuted at #1 on the Hot 100. It followed Rodrigo's two 2021 chart-toppers "Drivers License" and "Good 4 U," both of which also launched at the summit.
Rodrigo and Nigro considered ditching the "fame f---er" lyric from "Vampire" in place of something more relatable for listeners.
"It was actually debated if 'fame f---er' should be in the song," Rodrigo revealed on Audacy's The Julia Show. "Some people said, 'It kind of isolates you from people, you can't really say things like that in song, it's not relatable,' yada, yada, yada."
"I totally get and saw where they were coming from, but eventually we decided to keep it in," she continued. "I think the song isn't about fame f---ing - I think it's more about someone being manipulative and sucking you dry, using you for all you're worth."
"I think that's a universal theme, and I also think fame is more easily accessible now than it has ever been," Rodrigo concluded. "It's not just people in LA and Hollywood that have to deal with that."
Olivia Rodrigo loves the concept of a vampire. "It's like such a cool word to me," she told Fleur East and James Barr on UK's Hits Radio Breakfast. "And so I had that title written and like the Notes app on my phone under my, you know, Title List section of my phone for a while. And I just was sitting at the piano one day, and I started playing those chords and I got that song."
Olivia Rodrigo earned her third UK #1 single when "Vampire" climbed to the top of the Singles Chart. It followed "Drivers License" and "Good 4 U," which both reached the chart pinnacle in 2021.
Some fans have speculated that Rodrigo aimed "Vampire" at Taylor Swift. They believe a rift occurred after Swift acquired a share of the "Deja Vu" credits and royalties because of its resemblance to "
Cruel Summer." To add to the intrigue, Swift extended an invitation to Sabrina Carpenter, the rumored figure in the "Drivers License" heartbreak saga, to join her on the Eras tour.
"How do I answer this?"
Rodrigo whispered when The Guardian asked her about the speculation. "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 (laughs nervously). I was very surprised when people thought that."
Rodrigo performed "Vampire" at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2023, recreating the video, including the scene where the set crashes down as she performs it on an awards show. The video won for Best Editing and was nominated for Video Of The Year, losing to Taylor Swift's "
Anti-Hero."
Rodrigo did a very sanguine performance of "Vampire" at the Grammy Awards in 2024, where it was nominated for Record Of The Year (won by Miley Cyrus' "
Flowers," Song Of The Year (won by "
What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish), and Best Pop Solo Performance (won by "
Flowers" by Miley Cyrus).
In the opening monologue, host Trevor Noah wondered aloud what Rodrigo would use to rhyme "blood sucker" when she sang it - "ice trucker" and "fuddrucker" were his suggestions. She went with "dream crusher."
