For her second appearance since 2021 as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, alt-pop star Olivia Rodrigo marked the occasion by creating something special for her hit “all-american bitch.” In the clip, Rodrigo, clad in a pink collared dress and seated at a table laden with cakes and pastries, drops cubes of sugar into her tea while she sings with a wicked grin on her face. Then, she shatters a glass in her hand, tosses handfuls of cake around and smears icing on her face.
It’s a great concept, but according to pop artist Noelle Sucks, it’s not original: “love u @Olivia Rodrigo but ur team stole my brain on this one,” Noelle captioned a TikTok she posted yesterday that’s since gained 24,000 likes.
In her TikTok, Noelle Sucks posts side-by-side video comparisons of Rodrigo’s SNL clip and her own video, which also features her sitting at a cake-strewn table, drinking sugar-cubed tea, flanked by dancers pounding the table.
In the video, Noelle Sucks says that she reached out to Tarik Mikou, the creative director for Rodrigo’s SNL performance, but didn’t receive a reply.
Noelle also says that after her friends commented on Mikou’s post of the performance, pointing out its similarities to her work, Mikou limited the amount of comments that could appear on his Instagram posts. The artist then claimed that Mikou conspicuously unfollowed a friend they had in common who had previously posted some of her work.
“In conclusion, give credit where it’s due, or hire me next time,” Noelle says in her TikTok.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Rodrigo for comment.
Creative teams working for pop stars getting accused of ripping off work is nothing new, but for someone who’s only a few short years into her career, Rodrigo already has several such incidents attached to her name—including allegations that she copied melodies from artists like Paramore and Miley Cyrus.
