Olivia
Harry wrote Olivia for One Direction's Made on the AM which was written and recorded between March - September 2015. Several months after 1989 was completed. Taylor has said she played 1989 for Harry and it's highly likely he was also aware of the Vault Tracks.
From Rolling Stone:
Bunetta and Ryan cite “Olivia” as a defining track, one that captures just how far One Direction had come as songwriters: They’d written it in 45 minutes, after wasting a whole day trying to write something far worse. “When you start as a songwriter, you write a bunch of shitty songs, you get better and you keep getting better,” Ryan says. “But then you can get finicky, and you’re like, ‘Maybe I have to get smart with this lyric.’ By Made in the A.M. … they were coming into their own in the sense of picking up a guitar, messing around, and feeling something, rather than being like, ‘How do I put this puzzle together?’”
Harry also said Olivia 'fell out' when they were trying to write something else to GMA and avoided answering what he was trying to write which may have been Perfect as it took a long time.
Who is Olivia?
Harry famously answered this "Is Olivia even a person? Is Olivia an emotion? Is she a place? We don't know" Oliva sounds like 'I love ya'
Harry later referenced Olivia in the leaked Ophelia (I feel ya). Harry wrote Ophelia, in Tokyo when she was there for the last Reputation show in November 2018, he also wrote Little Freak at the same time. Ophelia and Olivia are Taylor Swift.
Taylor also has a cat Olivia Bensen, adopted June 2014, Harry can be heard laughing in her adoption video.
Lyrics
[Spoken Intro]
[Verse 1: Niall]
Remember the day we were giving up
When you told me I didn't give you enough
And all of your friends were saying I'd be leaving ya?
She's lyin' in bed with my t-shirt on
Just thinking how I went about it wrong
This isn't the stain of a red wine, I'm bleeding love
Harry has referenced Taylor wearing his shirts in a number of songs. She's also wore a few of his shirts.
The Red wine is also a reference to 1989, so we know who he is singing to:
Clean - "You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore"
Maroon "The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me" and
[Pre-Chorus: Niall]
Please, believe me, don't you see the things you mean to me?
Oh, I love you, I love you, I love, I love, I love Olivia
I think this is a reference to "Say don't go" a 1989 Vault Track. As Harry and Taylor were dating again through the production, and she has said she played it for him it is likely he knew the lyrics "Make me love you (Make me love you)? / I said, "I love you" (I said, "I love you")/ You say nothing back"
[Chorus: Harry]
I live for you, I long for you, Olivia (Ayy, ayy)
I've been idolizing the light in your eyes, Olivia (Ayy, ayy)
I live for you, I long for you, Olivia
Don't let me go, don't let me go
This is almost a direct response to Say don't go's: "Say, "Don't go" / I would stay forever if you say, "Don't go""
[Verse 2: Liam]
Say what you're feelin' and say it now
'Cause I got the feelin' you're walkin' out
And time is irrelevant when I've not been seeing ya
The consequences of falling out
That's something I'm having nightmares about
And these are the reasons I'm cryin' out to be with ya
Say don't go was asking him to ask her to not leave, In Olivia he did.
[Bridge: Harry]
When you go and I'm alone
You live in my imagination
The summertime, butterflies
All belong to your creation
I love you, it's all I do, I love you
Harry continued to refer to Taylor as sunshine, butterfly's and all things good:
Golden: "golden as I open my eyes / Hold it, focus, hoping, take me back to the light / I know you were way too bright for me / I'm hopeless, broken, so you wait for me in the sky”
Sunflower Vol 6: "Sunflower / My eyes, want you more than a melody"
Sweet Creature: "Wherever I go, you bring me home / Sweet creature, sweet creature / When I run out of road, you bring me home"
Fine line: “You sunshine, you temptress / My hand's at risk, I fold"
Daylight "If I was a bluebird, I would fly to you / You'd be the spoon / Dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you / Daylight, you got me cursing the daylight (ooh)"
Grapejuice: "Give me something old and Red."
Little Freak "I disrespected you / Jumped in feet first, and I landed too hard / A broken ankle, karma rules"
Happily "I don't care what people say when we're together / You know I wanna be the one to hold you when you sleep / I just want it to be you and I forever"
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