Paramore's Hayley Williams receives writing credit on Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U"

Fans have pointed out the similarities between Paramore's "Misery Business" and the SOUR single since its release

By Gabrielle Sanchez  |  August 25, 2021 | 5:47pm
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Paramore's Hayley Williams receives writing credit on Olivia Rodrigo's
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Hayley Williams during a performance with Paramore Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez

Olivia Rodrigo finally gave credit where it’s due. In her second retroactive writing credit since the release of SOUR in May, Rodrigo names lead singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams, and ex-guitarist Josh Farro as writers on her single “good 4 u.” It’s only right, given Williams’ influence as one of the frontrunners of girl-fronted teen rock, oh, and all of the similarities between “good 4 u” and Paramore’s 2007 hit “Misery Business” from their Riot! album (fun fact: both Williams and Rodrigo were 18 when their respective singles came out).

The late credit was only discovered when Paramore’s publishers, Warner Chappell Music, posted on Instagram celebrating “good 4 u” and the success it’s had over the last few months. Warner Chappell Music wrote, “Huge shoutout to our writers Hayley Williams and Joshua Farro.” Williams shared the post, adding: “Our publisher is wildin rn.”

In July, Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent were credited writers on “deja vu,” in which Rodrigo interpolates the bridge of Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” Swift and Antonoff are also credited on “1 step forward, 3 steps back,” over an interpolation of Swift’s track “New Year’s Day,” which was listed when SOUR came out in May.

One person who did not care about receiving a writing credit on SOUR was Elvis Costello. When Rodrigo was accused of lifting a guitar riff from the 1978 hit “Pump It Up” for “brutal” the rock star did not seem too worried, saying, “This is fine by me.”

“It’s how rock & roll works,” he wrote on Twitter. “You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.”

The act of retroactively giving credits to obvious influences has become more common as artists and publishers look to avoid plagiarism suits. However, it may be good 4 Rodrigo and her team to sort all that out before releasing music, lest someone be really determined to snag some of that cash.

 
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