Photo by JMEnternational/JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images
Olivia Rodrigo’s highly anticipated debut album, SOUR, is finally here, but one detail about the album had fans turning their heads even before it was released. SOUR’s fourth track, “1 step forward, 3 steps back” lists Taylor Swift, as well as producer Jack Antonoff, in the writing credits. Before the album’s release, fans wondered if Rodrigo had collaborated with Swift—who she cites as one of her “biggest inspirations”—but it turns out, Swift and Antonoff are credited because the song interpolates Swift’s 2017 cut “New Year’s Day.”
One Taylor Swift fan account speculated that Rodrigo interpolated Swift’s song by recreating it rather than just sampling it is because they wanted to cut Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records (who own the song’s masters and are not on good terms with Swift) out of the process.
The title “1 step forward, 3 steps back” is also a nod to Swift’s lucky number 13, which is a motif in Swift’s songs. On the track, Rodrigo sings about a lover whose mood often swings:
‘Cause it’s always one step forward and three steps back
I’m the love of your life until I make you mad
It’s always one step forward and three steps back
Do you love me, want me, hate me? Boy, I don’t understand
No, I don’t understand
“New Year’s Day” was the closing song off Swift’s 2017 album reputation. While most of that album found Swift taking shots at rivals, “New Year’s Day” features sparse production and finds her cleaning up the mess after the party and moving on.
“1 step forward, 3 steps back” is not the only song that bares Taylor Swift’s influence. Back in April, Rodrigo told Rolling Stone that the bridge on Swift’s “Cruel Summer” inspired the bridge of her Top 10 hit “deja vu.”
For her part, Swift has embraced Rodrigo. When “driver’s license” first blew up, Swift co-signed the song. Swift later sent the ring she wore while recording Red to Rodrigo. They officially met for the first time earlier this month at the Brit Awards where Swift gave her a hand-written letter.
Read all the lyrics to Olivia Rodrigo’s “1 step forward, 3 steps back”.
