Songfacts®:

• This piano-driven ballad finds Olivia Rodrigo expressing her feelings of betrayal as she watches her ex move on with another girl.
  
  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
  
  Rodrigo had her suspicions about his new girlfriend. Though her ex went a fortnight after their breakup before asking her out, she still feels emotionally cheated on.
• Rodrigo recorded the song for her debut album, Sour. It is one of several tracks that linger on her feelings when an ex steps into a new relationship. Others include the singles "Drivers License" and "Deja Vu ."
• When Olivia Rodrigo released Sour, "Traitor" started trending, with many fans speculating she is addressing her rumored ex-boyfriend, Joshua Bassett. Rodrigo is believed to have dated her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star during the filming of the show in 2019 before splitting in early 2020. Things allegedly didn't work out and Bassett was then linked to Girl Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter.
• Rodrigo wrote this song with her regular producer, Dan Nigro, who also played guitar, piano, synth and contributed background vocals. The only other credited musician is Ryan Linvill (synth and bass guitar).
• Despite not being released as a single, the song debuted in the Top 10 of both the UK and US singles charts because so many fans streamed it. In a Variety cover story, Rodrigo said she'd originally written off the guitar-rock ballad as not relatable, so it surprised her how many people responded to it.
  
  "I wrote it on my bed while I was crying," Rodrigo recalled. "I never really thought that it was going to be a song that resonated with so many people. I thought that it was a very specific situation that I was going through, and it's so funny that that's the non-single song that's the most successful. So many people have been like, 'How did you know? This is exactly what happened to me!'"
• The New York-based photographer Olivia Bee directed the song's music video. Starting with an ethereal opening sequence, it features home video-esque footage of Rodrigo and friends wandering through an arcade, riding in a pickup truck and trespassing in a school swimming pool.
• Rodrigo penned the song while scrolling and watching videos on social media. "I wrote 'Traitor' in my bedroom when I was very sad one day, and I actually came up with the idea for a song when I was looking at a TikTok," she recalled to Hits Radio. "I saw a girl who was kind of going through a similar situation to what I was going through, and she was kind of feeling these same feelings that I had been going through for a while. For some reason watching her talk about how she felt about it gave me some clarity on how I felt."
• Olivia Rodrigo wrote "Traitor" on her bedroom floor in Salt Lake City a few days after her debut hit took over the Internet. "When 'Drivers License' came out I called Dan and was like, 'We gotta make an album,'" she recalled during October 9, 2023 concert at The Theater in LA's Ace Hotel. "I was just going to make an EP."
  
  With Rodrigo filming on location in Salt Lake City, Nigro packed his studio gear, booked an Airbnb, and joined her. But the icy weather forced them to crank up the heat, a decision he'd later rue. Rodrigo's first vocal take during the recording of "Traitor" was so emotionally charged that it couldn't be surpassed. The only hiccup, as Nigro revealed, was the faint hum of the heater in the background. Rodrigo challenged the crowd: "Go home and listen," claiming she still can't detect it herself.