Adam Levine defends Olivia Rodrigo amid Paramore ‘Good 4 U’ songwriting drama

Maroon 5 lead Adam Levine is stepping up to defend Olivia Rodrigo after the Disney star added two of Paramore’s members as writers for her song ‘Good 4 U.’

Olivia Rodrigo broke the internet with the release of her viral breakup anthem ‘Driver’s License’ earlier this year. Rodrigo, who first found fame as a Disney actress, has gone on to release her first album, ‘SOUR,’ to critical acclaim.

However, once the album had time to simmer, it received a fair amount of criticism, with listeners comparing quite a few of her songs — and album artwork — to other artists.

Among the comparisons are names like Courtney Love, with Hole’s ‘Live Through This’ looking quite similar to SOUR’s cover art, and Rina Sawayama, whose ‘XS’ video seems like a direct inspiration for Rodrigo’s ‘Brutal’ music video.

What’s the drama with Paramore and Olivia Rodrigo?

Now, the internet is in a tizzy after Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro were retroactively added as writers on Rodrigo’s song ‘Good 4 U’ — meaning that she didn’t add them until the song and album were already released.

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Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ has been popularly paired with ‘Good 4 U’ online, and it’s no surprise, as the two sound fairly similar. According to Variety, a source closely involved with the proceedings claims the credit is an ‘interpolation.’ This basically means that a part of an older song was re-recorded and mixed into a newer track.

The situation went largely under the radar until Williams uploaded an Instagram story commenting on the proceedings. Her post was taken from a screenshot of her publisher, who congratulated her and Ferro on their credits for ‘Good 4 U.’

“Our publisher is wildin right now,” Williams wrote.

Adam Levine comments on the Paramore comparisons

Now, Adam Levine is throwing his two cents into the fray — and he’s of the opinion that new artists making big waves in music should be celebrated, not picked apart.

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“I do think that we can meet this with a little more compassion and understanding,” Levine said in an Instagram story. “All this calling out and s**t, like, music is a creative thing. I just hate to see it crushed by… you know.”

“When you take someone who’s a newer artist and she’s doing things that kind of emulate the ones from generations removed, I don’t know how bad that is. I think it’s kind of a cool thing to introduce a whole generation of people to different musical ideas.”

For now, it looks like Levine’s opinion has fans divided as more and more netizens weigh in on the backlash surrounding Rodrigo’s musical success.