Elvis Costello He explained once again why he doesn’t get into a debate about the similarities between “Pump It Up” and “Pump It Up.” Olivia Rodrigo‘s song “Brutal” and even defended the pop singer over the track.

When “Brutal” first appeared as Rodrigo’s opening track Minus In 2021, listeners immediately noticed how similar the single’s chord structure was to Costello’s 1978 hit.

“That’s fine with me,” Costello said. he said on social media When asked about “Ruthless,” he said, “That’s how rock & roll works. You take the broken pieces of another excitement and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did,” he says, touching on how “Pump It Up” was inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

Inside A new interview with Vanity Fair Three years after the release of “Brutal,” Costello was once again asked about keeping lawyers out of the situation (and potentially missing out on millions in royalties).

“Now, I couldn’t find any reason to legally go after them for this because I think that would be ridiculous,” Costello said. “This is the common language of music. Other people clearly felt differently about other songs on this record.”

Other artists were not so passive when it came to Rodrigo’s music; the singer retrospectively referenced Taylor Swift and Paramore in the songs “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 U”, respectively.

in 2023 Rolling stone asked RodrigoIf he were in a similar situation with Costello, would he sue because another artist’s song was the same as his? “I personally don’t think I would do it,” Rodrigo said at the time. “But who can say where I’ll be in 20, 30 years? All I can do is write my songs and focus on what I can control.”