The teen Disney star sees her career explode after hitting the top position on the charts worldwide. You’ve probably heard that story before with Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and so many others. Now, it is Olivia Rodrigo’s turn.
At the height of her 18 years, she’s the composer of the first musical anthem of the decade. Released on 8th January 2021, “drivers license” achieved a resounding — and worthy — success. In less than one week, the contagious and sensitive autobiographical song about a breakup reached Spotify’s number one position in 31 countries and filled the TikTok feed of many people around the world. The track has been played 5,6 million times around the world, a mark never before reached by a girl.
Did you run out of breath with so much information? So do we — and, believe us, there’s a lot more! So, fasten your belts and get ready: it’s time to drive past the career and life of our new favorite artist!
Childhood: A Theater Kid In A Musical Kindergarten
Olivia Isabel Rodrigo is of Filipino descent on her father’s side, and German and Irish on her mothers’. She was born on February 20th, 2003 (Gen Z check!), in Temecula, a small town located in California, and still there, she fell in love with the arts. There are even some extremely cute YouTube videos of her singing – and rocking! – in childish competitions in her hometown. Take a look at this one!
Olivia started taking singing lessons when she was just a 6-year-old baby. It was her music teacher who recommended that she could also take up acting. The reasons? Olivia shared them with the IMDb team: “Acting and music relate in that they are both about capturing feelings and moments as accurately as you can”, she explained.
Thereafter, (and for our joy), she totally turned herself into a theater kid and started acting in many academic plays in the schools she studied, the Lisa J. Mails Elementary School and the Dorothy McElhinney Middle School.
Start of Something New: From The Stages To Disney Channel
It didn’t take long for the little artist to leave the theater for the screen. Olivia’s first TV appearance was in a 2015’s Old Navy merchant, which is an American clothing and accessories enterprise that is part of Gap Inc. holding. Shortly after that same year, she made her acting debut in the movie “An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success”, portraying the lead role of Grace Thomas, a girl who has to move to Paris to help save her grandparents’ bakery through a cooking competition. Would it be sort of a youngish Emily In Paris?
Olivia’s part in this pre-teen production caught the attention of Disney producers, who, in 2015, hired her as a fixed cast member. One year later, she was debuting at Mickey’s company as one of the protagonists of “Bizaardvark”, a comedy series about two best friends who used to express themselves in funny musical vlogs.
And Olivia amended one huge success to another: in 2019, she was chosen to play the lead role of the most expected revival of all time: “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”, a Disney+ mini-series inspired by the songs of the most beloved trilogy of our generation. It was there that she started showing the world her talent as a songwriter. Her song “All I Want”, which was part of the series’ soundtrack, received a Gold Certificate, figured on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and, now, accumulate more than 200 million streamings on Spotify. In an interview, Olivia declared that “writing for HSM was surreal! The fact that they gave a 16-year-old a shot to write for such a big project is so awesome!”. All we can say is: thank you, Disney Channel!
The Explosion Of Drivers License
“I was afraid of releasing it. There are my deepest insecurities listed over 4 minutes”. That was what Olivia told the Billboard team about “drivers license”. Who made her change her mind and launch the song was Sam Riback, the leader of Interscope Geffen, the record label responsible for Olivia’s music career. And thankfully he did it! The song’s success was instantaneous.
Only one hour after the clip’s release, the shirt worn by Olivia in the video was sold out. Thirty minutes later, the sweatshirt too. “That’s when we started to realize: ‘we have something”, said the vice president of Geffen, Nicole Bilzerian, to Billboard. And they really had! Today, the iconic and aesthetic video clip is about to exceed 150 million views, and the song, which is already eligible for the U.S. Gold Certificate for selling more than 500,000 copies, is, according to the Rolling Stone Magazine, one of the promises for the 2022 Grammy. Incredible, right?!
Is There A Taylor Swift Successor?
And we’re not the only ones who are in love with the composer of “drivers license”. Card-carrying swiftie, after overtaking two “folklore” songs on the Billboard charts, Olivia received praises from Taylor herself! “I say that’s my baby, and I’m really proud!”, our country diva commented about the new Disney star. Taylor was so proud that even sent Olivia a ring as a gift, with a super cute handwritten note: “She gave me that ring, because she wore a similar one when she wrote Red, and she wanted me to have an equal”, posted Rodrigo. We love this friendship!
In fact, Olivia’s style has been quiet compared with Taylor’s: breakups, sentimentality, and delicacy are some words that explain this parallel. Some critics bet on Rodrigo as a possible successor to the legacy of Swift and, also, of the New Zealander Lorde — which, by the way, is also one of Olivia’s biggest inspirations. Starting like this, what could stop her from exploding?!
Can we expect more?
OF COURSE! Olivia has already confirmed that she plans to release a complete album this year! In this new project, she will present us with more alternative pop songs composed by the piano, as what we’ve already listened to in her debut. All we can do is wait for another stunning hit coming soon!
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The article above was edited by Marina Ponchio.
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