Olivia Rodrigo Fought to Keep the “Fame F***er” Lyric in “Vampire”

OK, admit it. How many times have you listened to “Vampire,” the new Olivia Rodrigo song, since it dropped? More than 50? More than 500? Do you have it memorized? Well, according to Rodrigo herself, one particularly biting lyric (pun intended) was nearly cut from the song.

“It was actually a debate whether or not ‘fame-f**ker’ should be in the song," Olivia Rodrigo told The Julia Show in a new interview, as noted by People. "Some people said, ‘It kind of isolates you from people, you can’t really say stuff like that in songs if it’s not relatable,’ yada, yada, yada, which I totally get and I saw where they were coming from." 

If you need a “Vampire” lyric refresher, the chorus goes: “I should've known it was strange / You only come out at night / I used to think I was smart / But you made me look so naive / The way you sold me for parts / As you sunk your teeth into me / Bloodsucker, fame-f**ker / Bleedin' me dry like a goddamn vampire.”

However, the line stayed because Rodrigo believed that it was relatable on a deeper level, even for fans who have never experienced the limelight or the Hollywood scene. “I think the song isn’t about fame-f**king or whatever, I think it’s more about someone being manipulative and sucking you dry, using you for all your worth,” she explained. “I think that that’s a universal theme, and I also think fame is more easily accessible now than it has ever been. It’s not just people in L.A. and Hollywood that have to deal with that.” The girls who get it, get it.

Related: Olivia Rodrigo’s New Album Guts: Release Date, Track List & Everything You Need to Know

"Vampire" is the first single from Guts, the much-anticipated sophomore album from Rodrigo. The musician has shared a few details about the album, including that it's a little "happier" than its predecessor, Sour. “It’s, I think, a little rockier than Sour, definitely a lot happier,” Rodrigo told SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio in July. “I think it’s a little tongue-in-cheek and a little playful, which is a side of myself and my music that I think I didn’t really show in Sour, so I’m really excited to kind of explore that in this album.” Guts drops this September, and we can't wait to decipher each and every lyric.