Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo is one of the youngest and most promising international artists to have risen to prominence in the 2020s. The young Californian singer-songwriter won over audiences and critics alike starting especially in 2021, thanks to the success of the single “Drivers License” and the album “SOUR”.

Born in 2003, Olivia grew up in Southern California and started getting into music at age 7. The beginning was fairly stormy: she could barely stand the piano lessons her father forced on her. But over time her passion grew stronger, leading her to pick up guitar as well. Discovering songwriting was like a revelation. At 12, Olivia spent much of her day filling notebooks with words, notes and jottings. Any subject could become a source of inspiration: her lyrics captured inner reflections and everyday experiences, like the fear of getting lost in a supermarket.

In 2016, Olivia moved with her family to Los Angeles to play the role of Paige Olvera in the Disney sitcom “Bizaardvark”. Shortly after, she landed the far more coveted audition that opened the doors to the TV series “High School Musical: The Musical”. Playing Nini Salazar-Roberts gave Olivia Rodrigo the chance to record her first solo track, titled “All I Want”, included on the show's official soundtrack.

Olivia's artistic turning point came at the start of 2021. The release of the single “Drivers License” was nothing short of an earthquake for the international music scene. Released in January, the song won over both audience and critics, climbing the Top 40 Radio chart and also topping the prestigious Billboard Hot 100. “Drivers License” also became the song that broke 400 million Spotify streams faster than any other.

A voice mature beyond her years, a sulky lyric, sharp production and a melodic sensibility somewhere between Lorde and Feist: “drivers license” was one of the rare singles able to break up the flow of rap and electronic dance that nowadays dominates the top spots of the English-language charts. The debut album “SOUR” (2021) arrived shortly after to complete the picture, but once you get past the seemingly “fresh” rock-tinged roar of certain passages, repeated listens reveal the limits of a record that is rightly youthful but all too predictable and one-note. The album is a perfect capsule of adolescent turmoil that feels suffocating and insurmountable in the moment, but which, with a bit of perspective, represents the natural transition into adulthood. For a more mature audience, in fact, “SOUR” offers nothing memorable. Still, you can glimpse decent potential in Olivia, thanks to a lovely voice and a tidy, classically radio-friendly sense of melody. After all, at just eighteen, the world is still hers to explore – and with these kinds of tools and numbers behind her, the road ahead is already paved. Among the fans' favourite tracks is the wildly popular “Deja Vu”: released in April 2021, it debuted in Billboard's streaming top five, following the number-one spot achieved by “Drivers License” a few months earlier. Olivia Rodrigo's debut album was also released in a special edition featuring the Californian artist's diary.

In the space of a single year, Olivia Rodrigo became the icon of Generation Z. In 2022 came the documentary about her meteoric rise, released on Disney+, titled “Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film)”. It takes viewers on a journey from Salt Lake City, through the rooms where Olivia Rodrigo wrote her debut album, all the way to Los Angeles. This success was confirmed in April 2022 by Olivia Rodrigo's triumph at the 64th Grammy Awards. “Sour”, already triple Platinum and Gold in Italy, won Best Pop Vocal Album, and the singer-songwriter picked up two further awards for Best New Artist and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Drivers License”, certified Platinum. While “Deja vu” has gone Gold in Italy, and “Good 4 u” Platinum, the singer-songwriter keeps breaking records, now counting over 8 billion total streams to date.

The tour that kept her busy in 2022 also stopped in Italy: on 16 June 2022, Olivia Rodrigo sold out her show at the Fabrique in Milan.

In 2023 came “GUTS”, the hugely anticipated second album, which amplifies and delivers everything with triple the force, cementing the singer's pop-punk streak while also pairing it with a far-from-obvious turn as a balladeer. Amid wrong guys, declarations of eternal grudges that aren't quite so eternal, and mistakes she's doomed to repeat with a smile plastered on her face, Rodrigo has clearly sharpened her craft, writing with greater irony and a touch of much-needed detachment. At the same time, she lets her own experience as a listener seep into the songs, coating the arrangements and chord progressions with a sheen that, in its own way, rejects mainstream posturing.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google