On the aptly titled traitor, Olivia Rodrigo reflects on what went wrong in a past relationship, the feeling of being betrayed, and still missing what she had. She follows the same ideas in some of her other songs, such as her January 2021 breakout hit drivers license and enough for you.

The piano–driven ballad went trending upon release, with many fans and the media speculating who the song was about and most of the suspects going to Joshua Bassett.

lyrics

Ooh–ooh–ooh
Ah–ah–ah–ah–ah

Brown guilty eyes and
Little white lies, yeah
I played dumb, but I always knew
That you talked to her, maybe did even worse
I kept quiet so I could keep you

And ain’t it funny how you ran to her
The second that we called it quits?
And ain’t it funny how you said you were friends?
Now it sure as hell don’t look like it

You betrayed me
And I know that you’ll never feel sorry
For the way I hurt, yeah
You talked to her when we were together
Loved you at your worst, but that didn’t matter
It took you two weeks to go off and date her
Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor

Now you bring her around just to shut me down
Show her off like she’s a new trophy
And I know if you were true
There’s no damn way that you
Could fall in love with somebody that quickly

Ain’t it funny? All the twisted games
All the questions you used to avoid
Ain’t it funny? Remember I brought her up
And you told me I was paranoid?

You betrayed me
And I know that you’ll never feel sorry
For the way I hurt, yeah
You talked to her when we were together
Loved you at your worst, but that didn’t matter
It took you two weeks to go off and date her
Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor

(Ah–ah–ah)
God, I wish that you had thought this through
Before I went and fell in love with you
(Ah–ah–ah)
When she’s sleepin’ in the bed we made
Don’t you dare forget about the way

You betrayed me
‘Cause I know that you’ll never feel sorry
For the way I hurt, yeah
You talked to her when we were together
You gave me your word, but that didn’t matter
It took you two weeks to go off and date her
Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still, you’re still a traitor
(Ah–ah–ah)
Yeah, you’re still a traitor

Ooh–ooh–ooh
God, I wish that you had thought this through
Before I went and fell in love with you

olivia on ‘traitor’

I wrote most of “traitor” on my bedroom floor in Salt Lake City. I sort of forgot about it until I sent a bunch of voice memos to Dan [Nigro] and he said he liked this. We finished it up together and I really like the way it turned out. It sort of feels like an old country song to me, which I’m obsessed with.

lyric video

music video