Elvis Costello reveals whether he'll sue Olivia Rodrigo over song similarities

Elvis Costello (l.) fired back at the suggestion he should sue Olivia Rodrigo for similarities between her hit brutal and his 1978 track Pump It Up.  © Collage: Cindy Ord & Frazer Harrison / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Chatting with Vanity Fair last week, the 70-year-old music icon acknowledged that Olivia's producer "obviously" made reference to the arrangement of his song in the opening track of her 2021 debut, SOUR.

"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."

Costello was evidently referring to the drama surrounding Rodrigo and fellow pop superstar Taylor Swift, who received songwriting credits on the SOUR song deja vu after fans pointed out some similarities to Swift's Cruel Summer.

Rodrigo also gave retroactive credit to Paramore for similarities between her song good 4 u and their hit Misery Business.

Though these copyright matters have been settled, many fans have argued – in a similar vein to Costello – that the supposed resemblances were significantly overblown.