Zack Bia addressed rumors that Olivia Rodrigo's song "Vampire" is about him.
If this is your first time hearing of Zack, he's a record label exec and DJ currently opening for Drake on tour. However, he's also been linked romantically to quite a few famous faces — including Madison Beer, Madelyn Cline, and Kylie Jenner (though regarding the latter, both of them deny it).
Zack and Olivia reportedly dated when he was 26 and she was 19. The two apparently split in August of last year after six months together. Fans have theorized that "Vampire" is, at least partially, about him, given certain lines like, "Bloodsucker, fame fucker" and "Went for me and not her / 'Cause girls your age know better."
Of course, it's not the only theory folks have had, as others have pointed to producer Adam Faze or (in my opinion, bafflingly) even Taylor Swift as the inspiration behind the song. When asked about the latter by the Guardian earlier this month, Olivia replied, "I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing.”
Well, GQ asked Zack about the song in a recent profile. "I don't think it's really about me,” he replied. “I think the internet just ran with it.”
That being said, Zach did say that the "Vampire" character Olivia sings about might be a composite partially inspired by him, adding, “Look, I’m in the industry, so I know how a song gets made." However, he didn't think that their breakup would warrant such a song, explaining, “We hung out, we're both busy, and we ended up not furthering our relationship. There was never any drama, you know?”
Either way, Zack did say that he's a fan of the song: “The song's so big and so awesome. Look, a heartbreak song for the summertime, it’s an undefeated formula.”
When asked about another song that is seemingly about him, Madison Beer's "Selfish," Zack said that Madison had apologized for any backlash and that they're still friends: "There’s so much love there. She's someone who's so instrumental in my life and I still treat as family. Like, she and my mom are still cool.”
“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,” Zach later added in the GQ interview. “[One hundred] 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.”
He continued, “Look, the momentum of a song is so special. I think Olivia is a generational songwriter. I think she's a generational talent. I'm always just proud of her continued accomplishments.”
