Olivia Rodrigo is just your average teenager rocking out in her bedroom, and also on stages across the world. Her album Sour is was the number one album of the year in 2021 along with Driver's License at the top of the song list.
2021 was Rodrigo's year, she is no newbie to the stage with her rise to fame beginning with Disney's High School Musical: The Musical Series, but her sola artist career has embarked into an empire and given her the space to step away from the camp rock persona to embrace her own.
Aside from rocking out, she has quickly become the trendsetter for the Gen Z voices of fashion, bringing back camisole tops, colorful hair clips, braids galore and any combo that mixes a little bit of punk with a whole lot of fem.
Fans have quickly named Rodrigo their favorite, and for good reason. Her music speaks to multiple generations, as most women can be related to just wanting to dance alone in their room like no one is watching.
Making Of A Starlette
Rodrigo has been singing since she was very young, she recently posted a picture of herself on Instagram from when she was five years old and wrote her first Christmas song, and later a more official song at 8 years old.
She grew up in Temecula, California with her mom, a school teacher and dad, a family therapist. A teacher's pet and straight-A student, Rodrigo was always self-disciplined in a way that she knew she could shake the world but was equally terrified of never being enough.
In the 7th grade, the family moved to L.A. for Rodrigo's acting career, she was cast in An American Girl film and later she joined Disney landing a role on the TV show Bizaardvark. Arguably when things started to get more real was being cast as Nini in High School Musical: The Musical Series.
Nini's character is a shy girl who is coming into her own, whereas Olivia is someone who always had her eye on the prize, but was searching for a way to express her emotions.
During quartine in 2020, she challenged herself to an extreme songwriting exercise, releasing a song every day on Instagram for which the compilations would become her hit album, Sour.
Rodrigo's Career Going Viral
The release of Sour turned Rodrigo's world upside down, the energy she created while writing songs in her bedroom with her keyboard during were now edited down to an album and being streamed around the world. Her 18th birthday came a month after releasing her premiere album.
It is important to Rodrigo to stay true to her persona, a teenager who is just trying to navigate the world, love and her own emotions. She expresses herself through music, and also fashion. This year marked a huge influence over the fashion world with appearances at global Fashion Weeks, The Met Gala and gracing the covers of Vogue, Time and Rolling Stone as the music industry tried to make of what was perceived as overnight success.
Fans of Rodrigo know her success didn't come overnight, she has been working towards it arguable since she started to sing as a child. The biggest challenge being resented to Rodrigo now after willing a handful of MTV Music Awards, American Music Awards, and being the first Filipina and second-youngest person ever to be nominated for the Big Four grammies, is navigating the industry.
What Is Up Next For Rodrigo?
For Rodrigo at 18 the music and fame came first, then the awards, but now she is facing the industry. There have been some criticisms from TikTok mashups and the credits on her Album which include Taylor Swift And Paramore, regarding copywrites.
While so far, credit has been well given, people have criticized Rodrigo for not being original. Although what isn't being said is when you reach that amount of fame and success, copywriter becomes a part of your industry and job.
In addition to the originality, Rodrigo's words were spun recently regarding her talking about race and representation. She has corrected her words on several platforms to say that she is still learning how to navigate media, as it feels like something that gets spun out of control. The pop star knows that she has a lot to learn and is willing to make mistakes, after all, she is only 18.
Rodrigo is ready to embrace the mistakes, keep writing music and let the rest come as it may. For now, she is still representing all the young girls singing in their bedrooms, expressing their emotions and inspiring pop around the world.
