- Many Olivia Rodrigo fans believe her hit single “Vampire” was inspired by Zack Bia.
- Bia was romantically linked to Rodrigo last year, but he told GQ that he doesn’t think the song is about him.
- “We hung out, we’re both busy, and we ended up not furthering our relationship,” he said.
Zack Bia has officially responded to theories that Olivia Rodrigo’s hit single “Vampire” was inspired by their short-lived relationship.
Last year, the 27-year-old DJ was spotted out and about with the 20-year-old Grammy winner. The pair reportedly began dating around the time of the Super Bowl and split six months later.
Rodrigo released “Vampire” in June as the lead single for her acclaimed sophomore album, “Guts.” The breakup ballad debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and just returned to the top of the chart.
For months, fans have been speculating about the song’s muse, whom Rodrigo describes as a “bloodsucker, fame-fucker.” Bia is a primary suspect, given several lyrical clues about the pair’s age gap and his aspirations for fame.
“I don’t think it’s really about me,” Bia told GQ in a new interview. “I think the internet just ran with it.”
Although he acknowledged that “Vampire” might draw from real-life details that resemble him — “Look, I’m in the industry so I know how a song gets made” — he also said their relationship wasn’t sensational enough for a heartbreak anthem.
“We hung out, we’re both busy, and we ended up not furthering our relationship,” he said. “There was never any drama, you know?”
Rodrigo has called herself a “diaristic” songwriter, but she has never confirmed (or denied) who her songs are about.
“I find myself caring less and less,” she told Rolling Stone. “Behind the scenes, I do all of the things I am supposed to do and try to be as prepared as I can. People are going to say what they want to say. I feel like the more you try to control it, the more miserable you are, and the bigger it gets. I just write songs; it’s not my job to interpret them for other people.”
Upon the song’s release, a source close to Rodrigo told People that it wasn’t inspired by Adam Faze, another recent ex — but said nothing of Bia.
GQ also reached out to a source familiar with Rodrigo’s songwriting process.
Asked about Bia’s denial, the source said, “I don’t know if that’s exactly true.” Rodrigo herself declined to comment to GQ.
Bia went on to praise Rodrigo in his GQ interview, hailing her as a “generational songwriter.” He also described “Vampire” as an “undefeated formula.”
“The song’s so big and so awesome,” he said, adding, “I’m always just proud of her continued accomplishments.”
As for previous speculation about his love life, GQ confirmed that Bia inspired Madison Beer’s 2020 single “Selfish,” which enjoyed a bump in streaming numbers after “Vampire” came out.
According to Bia, Beer apologized for backlash the song caused. He even said “there’s so much love” between the two exes.
“Any time I’ve been speculatively the subject of a song, or the focus of a TikTok trend, whether grounded in reality or not, it’s like, it’s never been up to me to address it because the scale of it is so widespread,” he said. “100 million people have heard this song. The only thing I can address is my own life. I can control what my friends think and the creative output that I have and things like that.”
