Olivia Rodrigo Album Cover Draws Plagiarism Claims Over Swing Photo

Olivia Rodrigo unveiled her third album on April 2. The cover art triggered accusations that she copied a 2010 M.I.A. photograph. Photographer Ryan McGinley shot the rapper dangling upside down on a trapeze for The New York Times Magazine during her MAYA album promotion, then shared his image without words after Rodrigo's announcement.

The cover for you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love displays the singer swinging upside down against pink and blue sky. She has on a babydoll dress, white crew socks, and Mary Janes. McGinley's 2010 photo presents M.I.A. in a matching upside-down pose with dark hair and white socks over Manhattan.

Fans rushed to defend her. They pointed at Jean-Honoré Fragonard's 1767 painting, The Swing. Actor Louis Partridge, linked romantically to Rodrigo, had posted that painting on his Instagram. Supporters insisted the idea of photographing someone on a swing existed centuries before either image.

“I have news for this photographer,” one Reddit user wrote, according to Vice. “There's a pic of me as a child 30 years ago on a swing at the playground doing this so… you guys owe my mom $5.”

A Harper's Bazaar cover of Jennifer Lopez from 2018 showed matching framing to McGinley's work, with Lopez swinging over a city. Rodrigo's cover shows only sky behind her.

She's dealt with plagiarism claims before. In 2021, she gave Paramore retroactive writing credits on "good 4 u" after fans spotted similarities to "Misery Business." She also added Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent to the credits of "déjà vu."

Courtney Love claimed in 2021 that visuals for Rodrigo's Sour Prom concert film copied the cover of Hole's Live Through This. Love called it "rude" and requested flowers and a note. Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur viewed the similarities as homage instead of theft.

Dan Nigro, who produced both SOUR and GUTS, will return for the new record. 

The album drops June 12 via Geffen Records. A signed CD edition sold out within hours of pre-orders opening. Neither Rodrigo nor M.I.A. has commented on the controversy.