I think that after this year, anyone who says they have never heard of Olivia Rodrigo is either lying or living under a rock.
Olivia, who got her start on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, was involved with acting and singing long before her viral single, Driver’s License, hit the charts. Rodrigo has had massive success this past year, with her debut album, Sour, earning her three Grammys at the 2022 awards.
After any viral song or album, there will always be disgruntled listeners with their complaints of the music being “overplayed” or “annoying.” But lately, I have noticed a significant uptick in the amount of hate directed Olivia Rodrigo’s way.
Olivia Rodrigo recently made headlines over backlash about her songs’ similarities to works of the past. Olivia is not alone in facing claims of this issue. Many stars including Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa have recently faced lawsuits over copyright disputes in their own music.
But with only 12 notes on the musical scale, how many different combinations of notes and chords can there be? Some argue that music copyrighting is becoming too extreme and is trying to own building blocks which all music is built upon. Music copyright laws are their own messy can of worms, but I became especially interested in Olivia’s encounters with this issue.
Fans and critics alike have been brutal toward the young star about the resemblances of her songs to other musical pieces. I am not saying this isn’t a big issue—plagiarizing work is a serious offense and should be addressed as one. But even Elvis Costello, who was approached about Olivia’s song Brutal mirroring his own work, Pump it Up, didn’t think twice about these similarities. Costello was very clearly unphased by the claims, stating that “this is fine by me. It’s how rock and roll works.” So, if other artists aren’t concerned with these instances, why is the internet creating a frenzy?
The answer is simple. The internet, and society in general, cannot accept a talented young woman’s work as originally and creatively hers.
Society only wants to do two things to successful young women: polarize them or clump them together in a box. Women can never just be.
Olivia mentions that she looks up heavily to Taylor Swift?
Now she wants to be her.
Oh, she made a super successful album?
She must have not done it herself. She must have stolen it.
These internet trolls sound frivolous and repetitive and, in all honesty, I am tired of the unwarranted hate we direct toward all young women in Hollywood.
But as for Olivia Rodrigo, I see a 19-year-old girl who is talented, blessed with fame, and is still working through her personal style and sound. It is easy to point fingers from your couch watching the Grammys in your PJs (no shade because this is exactly what I did this year). Recognizing the time, effort, talent, and emotional vulnerability it takes to be an artist isn’t as fun as making comments online about stealing songs and looking awful at award shows.
I guess what I am trying to say is that we could all be a little kinder in this world, especially in channels that are made exclusively for entertainment.
I go onto TikTok for a laugh, not to be met with anxiety and negativity. Olivia Rodrigo’s rise to fame reveals a bigger truth about how we use social media: we love to be divided.
The internet is a powerful global connecter and allows you to broaden your horizon unfathomably. But like most things in life, there is always a flip side. This means that it only takes a few comments for the masses to swarm, bombard, and convince other users to perpetuate hatefulness.
Maybe this article is only a further testament to how opinions on the internet are arbitrarily subjective and should be considered as such. Perhaps my critique of the internet hate toward Olivia Rodrigo makes me just as guilty.
In hopes of not ending this article on a sour note (pun intended), let’s all try to be a little kinder to each other online, and in-person, for that matter.
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