It was revealed over the weekend that Olivia Rodrigo has landed her first No. 1 album with Sour. Also over the weekend, she chatted about the release on the Zach Sang Show. During the conversation, she spoke about album highlight “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” which famously interpolates Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day.”
Rodrigo revealed why she ended up borrowing from the Swift song, saying:
“We interpolated ‘New Year’s Day,’ which is Taylor’s song from Reputation. I came up with the ‘1 Step Forward’ concept and I sort of wrote a verse and a chorus, and when I got home… I was in the car on a road trip, and when I got home, I decided to sing it over the chords of ‘New Year’s Day.’ I think they’re really beautiful chords. I was lucky enough to get that approved, and it’s on the record now.”
She also said of the song, “I really sort of loved that concept of ‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back.’ Somebody texted it to me once, and I was like, ‘Ooh, that’s really interesting. I’ve never heard somebody say something like that.’ I thought it would be a cool way to describe this toxic, sort of manipulative, relationship.”
Watch the full interview above.