Things are even sourer in “Vampire” than they were in Sour, and if you’ve listened to Sour, you’ll know it’s not an easy feat to achieve. The bitter track comes almost three years since Olivia Rodrigo first made waves with her smash single, “Driver’s License.” So “Vampire” has a lot of running to do to catch up to the amount of meteoritic success that “Driver’s License” – the lead single off of Sour – enjoyed.
Without needing to release a deluxe version, bonus tracks, or anything, Sour has cemented itself as one of the best-selling albums of all time. Rodrigo will be looking forward to matching and, if possible, topping it with her September 8th album Guts. Let the horror begin.
Writing on Twitter prior to the release of the single, Rodrigo shared, “Writing this song helped me sort through lots of feelings of regret, anger, and heartache. it’s one of my favorite songs on the album and it felt very cathartic to finish. I’m so happy it’s in your hands now and I hope it helps u deal with any bloodsuckers in your life.”
Rodrigo is not known for biting back on her songs, and that is why so many people around the world relate to the raw emotions that are often, more often than not, prominent in her tracks. “Vampire” is Rodrigo assuring the world that she can tackle the bad and the dirty while remaining clean and blameless.
The first two verses of the song are enough to make you realize that she’s singing about a literal bloodsucker. “How’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about?” she asks, going on to add that he got what he wanted, even if it came at the cost of her love, which she admits she was stupid to feel in the first place.
“The way you sold me for parts / As you sunk your teeth into me, oh / Bloodsucker,” – yep, I told you this song was about a literal bloodsucker (kidding!) The song starts like a piano ballad, before picking up speed on the drums and holding it, giving it a goth-rock feel through the chorus and second verse, with the tempo in the bridge also picking up. “Vampire” was accompanied by a Petra Collins-directed lyric video.
Rodrigo herself admits that this song isn’t exactly different from the eleven songs that made up her debut album, and I’m sure most of us have already figured it out, but she still believes that it is exciting and fresh enough to thrill fans. She’s not wrong.
Rodrigo revealed that the single was once meant to be a piano ballad until Dan Nigro turned it into “a heartbreak song you can dance to.”
