Olivia Rodrigo is Woman of the Year – and not just according to Billboard. There is no doubt that the talented 19-year-old singer has revolutionized the music industry and won the hearts of thousands of people since the release of her first album. Rodrigo has paved a rough road for women, especially young women, in music. She is the face of the new generation and the newest pop princess. And here’s why.
Who is Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo is the newest rising star and just like other pop darlings like Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus, is also a prodigy discovered by Disney. In 2015, she signed with the network and debuted the following year in “Bizaardvark”, a comedy series, alongside her current best friend Madison Hu. But it was in 2019, with the Disney+ exclusive musical series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”, that Olivia took the spotlight. Living the character Nini, Rodrigo managed to show her talent as an actress, singer and finally, as a songwriter. The song “All I Want”, written by her for the series, won the Gold Certificate and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100.
Since then, Olivia has truly conquered the world. During quarantine, Olivia gifted her fans with short videos of pieces of music she wrote on her Instagram – including her upcoming hit “driver’s license”.
3 steps forward
In January 2021, Olivia announced the release of her first single on the 8th of the same month. And what was supposed to be the singer’s first solo song turned into one of the biggest hits of all time. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, was certified Gold in the United States, and became the most streamed song in the country.
Olivia’s first single quickly took the world by storm. The power of her lyrics and the singer’s emotion ensured stability for the song. The name Olivia Rodrigo was everywhere: on the radio, all over social media, on TV shows and even in rumors involving the song and the supposed “heartbreaker”, her co-star Joshua Bassett. It was almost impossible not to know who Olivia Rodrigo was and the records she was breaking. It was only the beginning of the Sour era.
Good 4 her
For the second single, Olivia chose the song “Deja Vu” – which was almost not selected for the album, as the singer recently revealed in her documentary “Driving Home 2 U”. The pressure was high, how was she going to manage to maintain the level after the success of “drivers license”? Well, when you’re as talented as Rodrigo, that’s not such a complicated task. As with the first two singles, the third was also a big hit. “Good 4 u” showed a different side of the singer. With a more pop-punk vibe, the song became a fan favorite and soon reached the top of the biggest global streaming charts. Olivia had outdone herself again.
In April, Olivia Rodrigo announced through her instagram the release date of her first studio album. “Sour” would be available on all digital platforms from the 21st of May. The star’s fans – and everyone else, really – went wild. Even before being released, the album was already highly acclaimed and commented on.
Rewards of a broken heart
Olivia became the first female artist in history to place three debut songs at the same time in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100: Good 4 u, Déjà Vu, at second and third, respectively, and Traitor at number nine. The other 8 songs on the album were not left behind and debuted in the top 30 of the Billboard. Rodrigo has the debut album by a female artist with the highest number of streams, with more than 300 million reproductions. The album took just 134 days to reach the 1 billion streams mark on spotify, becoming the fastest record to achieve this feat in 2021.
In June, the singer launched the “Sour Prom” on her Youtube account, a kind of virtual show with the theme of a high school dance. Olivia has graced numerous magazine covers, participated in television shows, been nominated and won numerous awards and has continued to break records. In December, she announced the long-awaited “Sour Tour”, with shows throughout the United States and some European countries.
In November of last year, another great achievement – seven new achievements, to be more exact – Olivia received 7 Grammy nominations, an important American music award. Through her instagram, Rodrigo wrote “Many dreams have come true for me this year but this one is probably the most meaningful”.
The awards took place on April 3 this year and our pop star won 3 categories: New Artist, Pop Vocal Album and Pop Solo Performance, with “drivers license”.
The truth is that Rodrigo is a great inspiration – for me and for thousands of people worldwide. Her talent as a songwriter, especially being so young, is something to behold.
All we want <3
For me, Olivia has a talent for turning feelings that aren’t easy to explain into poetry. It’s not hard to understand why so many teenagers can identify with her lyrics. Being young, being in love, the aesthetic pressure of social media, the comparisons, everyone has been there. It’s comforting to know that someone can understand what you’re going through. It’s liberating to be able to scream the lyrics that say so much about you. At least that’s what I feel when I think about Olivia and her music.
As someone who also has big dreams, it’s heartening to see someone my age fulfilling dreams as big as mine. It’s a certain encouragement. Olivia has been opening doors and changing patterns.
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The article above was edited by Nicoly Bastos.
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