Olivia Rodrigo, an American singer-songwriter who won three Grammy Awards in 2022 for Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance (for ‘Drivers License’), and Best Pop Vocal Album (for her first album ‘Sour’), desired to be an Olympic gymnast as a youngster. Years later, the 19-year-old Los Angeles girl selected Time magazine’s ‘Entertainer of the Year’ in 2021 has skipped, jumped, and landed on the podium on music’s grandest stage.
Rodrigo starred as a guitarist in Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, and in 2019, she was cast in the Disney series ‘High School Musical,’ for which she created the song ‘All I Want.’ Rodrigo drew more attention than other Disney-created talents like Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez on their debuts, which charted at number 90 in the United States.
The singer-songwriter made a conscious effort to break out from the Disney factory’s mould and create her own brand. She shared her songs on Instagram, where she cultivated a devoted following. Taylor Swift’s songs were covered by her, and one of them, ‘Cruel Summer,’ was shared by Swift herself. Rodrigo then composed ‘Deja Vu,’ which became a hit with tracks from Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’ album.
Rodrigo’s formal first song, Drivers License, was released in 2021. It was a powerful portrayal of adolescent anguish that resonated with young people all across the world. It broke Spotify records and spent a week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song has “a tonne of X-factor that made [it] the ideal storm,” according to Jeremy Erlich, co-head of music at Spotify, who was reported in The New York Times as stating. Rodrigo’s debut album, ‘Sour,’ was published in the middle of the year and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 list, where it stayed for five weeks.
Rodrigo went to the White House in July 2021 to see President Joe Biden and pushed America’s youth to be vaccinated before any other celebrity. Rodrigo became an institute speaker and panellist for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, building on her work as a public service ambassador.
Rodrigo, who comes from Disney’s candyfloss fantasy factory, received praise for expressing the anxiety, turmoil, and problems of American youth. Her multiculturalism has aided her – her father is Filipino-American, while her mother is of German and Irish origin.
She’s also a natural wordsmith, delivering the message succinctly and without unnecessary or distracting instruments.
