Olivia Rodrigo’s new song ‘Vampire‘ is sucking the life out of the UK Charts. In addition to being the youngest artist to land a UK top ten double whammy with hit singles ‘Drivers Licence‘ and ‘good 4 u’ off her 2021 debut album ‘Sour‘, the 20 year old singer-songwriter has also become the youngest to debut three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Currently perched upon a pile of desiccated dance tracks and bloodless bops in the number two spot, new blood ‘Vampire‘ looks set to sink its fangs into the BBC Radio One Official Chart top spot, biting at the heels of Dave/Central Cee’s brag-rap banger ‘Sprinter‘. Having sat atop the chart for five weeks in a row, Cench’s senile beat is ripe for ex-sanguination.
Having torn up the charts like a bat out of hell Rodrigo’s previous victims rest in pieces. Littered amongst a scattered trail of bejewelled teeth and fake nails lies the shrivelled remains of J Hus and Drakes ‘Who Told You’ as well the cold corpse of her childhood hero Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’.
Olivia’s piano driven self pity-ditty paints a portrait of an individual plagued by a parasitic personal relationship, lyrically the bemoaning ballad appears to have been penned about yet another boy who played her false and left her feeling lied to and leeched on, and surprise surprise she’s a little bit pissed off about it. So pissed off in fact that she exhales an ‘eff’ word during the chorus, branding the belligerent boy as a “Bloodsucker, fame fucker”. Fair enough Olivia.
The metaphorical allusions to vampirism are reflected not only in the songs lyrics but also in the singles cover artwork, a pseudo gothic side profile still soaked in a monochromatic filter perforated colourfully by a protrusive shade of purple plasters plugging Rodrigo’s presumably punctured jugular, in a nod to an old horror movie poster from the 1968 British Hammer Horror classic ‘Dracula Has Risen From The Grave‘.
The track serves as the singer’s flagship single taken from her upcoming sophomore album ‘Guts‘, slated for release on September 8th 2023. Produced and recorded by frequent collaborator Dan Nigro at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York (a recording studio commissioned by the one and only Jimi Hendrix way back in 1968 that has since been used by a plethora of musicians including the likes of David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, and more recently Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to name but a few) Rodrigo describes the song as being about “feeling hurt and confused”.
Released June 30th via Geffen/Interscope Records, ‘Vampire‘ has amassed over 36 million streams on Spotify as well as drawing an international audience of 26 million through radio airplay. An accompanying music video directed by Petra Collins was also released simultaneously online during a live Youtube premiere. The video racked up 13 million views with 24 hours of being uploaded to the platform. So will Olivia Rodrigo clip Central Cee’s wings and claim her spot at the top of the UK chart or will Cench and Dave sprint to safety for another week at No.1?
