Olivia Rodrigo photographed by David Needleman on April 16, 2021 at Smashbox Studios in Los Angeles. Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” made her a pop-music sensation. "If you're being met with resistance, that probably means that you're doing something new. Joshua Bassett talked to Billboard about the Olivia Rodrigo "drivers license" drama and why he removed a duet with Sabrina Carpenter from his EP. Swift sent Rodrigo a "really sweet" handwritten letter after the success of "Drivers License." With her surprising debut album, 'Sour,' she’s determined to prove her staying power. In only a few months, Olivia Rodrigo has become a household name in music. Oh, well!’ So stupid.”, Writing one of the most popular songs of all time on the subject of driving tends to mean you’ll forever be associated with motor vehicles. Like, that’s my least favorite thing in the whole world.”, In early April, Rodrigo posted a snapshot of a parking ticket she had recently received from the city of Los Angeles to her Instagram story: “damn this driving s--t isnt all fun and games,” read the quippy caption. Do Not Sell My Personal Information Published: 14:13 EDT, 13 May 2021 | … Privacy Policy Why are people making stuff that’s [just a few seconds] long?’ ” Rodrigo says with a laugh. Hey, it's touches and these are your top stories for Tuesday, January 19th. Before 2021's biggest breakout hit "Drivers License" zoomed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Olivia Rodrigo was chugging along as part of the Disney machine while starring in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.. Olivia Rodrigo received a kind handwritten letter from her idol Taylor Swift following the debut of Rodrigo's new single, Driver's License. 1 — unprecedented for an artist with only a couple of TV soundtrack credits to her name. Federle realized he needed a song for Rodrigo’s character at the end of a mid-first-season episode. “The Tarot card lady predicted some good things happening in my life,” says Rodrigo, laughing at the timing. Apart from a lone TV performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Rodrigo experienced her debut smash mostly through stat updates and celebrity co-signs viewed on her phone — she was ensconced in Utah, under strict COVID-19 protocols, while filming the second season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. “Going to set, doing my statistics homework and then going to sleep.”, “Drivers license” wasn’t a song that needed much of a promotional boost from Rodrigo. But while she may have many obsessions, she’s perhaps most obsessed with, well, being obsessed. There are only a few boxes left to unpack in Olivia Rodrigo’s new home in Los Angeles. And it’s super cool that people want to listen.” Maybe they’ll get a little obsessed themselves. Hot 100; Billboard 200; Billboard Global 200; Billboard Global Excl. “But that song is how Interscope found me.”, “You just knew right away — her personality, her vision, her talent as a songwriter and as a singer,” says Janick of his first meeting with Rodrigo. “It’s the songs that are really resonating with people,” he says. What if we changed all the pianos out and made them guitars? She even tried to balance out Sour with some sweeter-skewing love songs. “And truthfully, love and happiness and everything weren’t feelings that I was feeling at the time. Because I just love songwriting. Swift has, in fact, said as much publicly on Instagram, where she offered “drivers license” a valuable early co-sign, and in a handwritten letter to Rodrigo. Olivia Rodrigo stars on the May 2021 cover of Elle, where she opens up about living out the "songwriter’s dream" with her breakout debut single. Olivia Rodriguez driver's license tops the Billboard Hot 100. That means more music videos and singles, her own Saturday Night Live appearance on May 15 and, when it’s safe, Rodrigo’s first headlining tour — her first time playing her own songs anywhere, for anyone besides her mom. She said it was 'sweet and personal' in an interview. California Privacy Rights The label was immediately taken with it. Rodrigo inherited her earliest musical obsessions from her parents: Jennifer, who is German and Irish, and Christopher, from whom Rodrigo gets her Filipino heritage. As with other close writer-producer partnerships in recent years — Eilish and FINNEAS, Lorde and Jack Antonoff — the album works because the songs are so gut-punching. Instead, unsatisfied with the scope of the shorter project, she focused on making a full album that was “truly reflective of what I can do.” (It’s also good business sense: Plenty of viral-breakout artists have taken their time working up to an album only to lose the momentum.) “But I’m really just truly enjoying myself, and I love that I get to do this for a living. (She says a few car companies have reached out about using the song in commercials, though no such licensing deals have been struck to date. “She’s a young adult now, but I remember being struck and moved by how ordinary the conversations were [between her and her castmates] in between takes,” says Tim Federle, creator and showrunner for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. “I didn’t even have TikTok at the time. “I don’t want to divulge too much because it’s really sweet and personal,” says Rodrigo of the note. Drivers license 2 olivia rodrigo 4:02320 kbps ориг. “The answer is I don’t know,” she concludes, sounding at peace with not having all the answers. “At first I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this. But Rodrigo seems a little ambivalent about the glare of imminent stardom. One viral hit is no guarantee of continued stardom, however, especially in the age of TikTok, when listeners often get attached to a song without bonding with the artist behind it. Though the song was one of many featured in that season — and far from the showiest or most prominently placed — it was the one that became a hit on TikTok, crossing over to the Hot 100 in early 2020. During the interview, joshua bassett and olivia rodrigo talked about what it was like auditioning for the series and how one of their real life nerves helped their audition, where and when the series takes place, when they found out they were picked up for a second season, and the band queen. “It’s the music, and that’s what people are connecting to, but I think that people believe in her,” says John Janick, chairman/CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA). Swift sent Rodrigo a "really sweet" handwritten letter after the success of "Drivers License.". Account active Though he co-wrote and produced all but one song on Sour, he describes their early sessions as bumpy but promising. Saturday Night Live even dedicated an entire skit to the song — on Rodrigo’s 18th birthday, no less — with a bar full of male cast members discussing the song’s lyrics and belting along to its towering bridge. But subsequent single releases from Bassett (“Lie Lie Lie”) and Carpenter (“Skin”) appeared to come at least partly in response to Rodrigo’s song, turning the “drivers license” love triangle into one of the biggest entertainment stories of early 2021. AdChoices If you're experiencing turbulence or pressure, that probably means you're rising. The driver's license singer, 17, addressed the rumor in an interview with billboard. "But she talks a lot about how, I think, you make your own luck in the world," Rodrigo revealed. And what’s the point of putting out a record if it isn’t something that you feel is important to say to people?”, If listeners got déjà vu of their own from Rodrigo’s second single, they certainly didn’t mind: It debuted at No. I was like, ‘Oh, OK, maybe I did something here.’ ”, Seeing people react to her music in person is still a novelty. He found out about the diaristic original songs Rodrigo was posting on Instagram and asked her to try writing it herself. We definitely have to rise to the occasion and work as hard, if not harder, to make all of this happen.”, That focus and ambition also inform her songwriting — which, despite her list of accomplishments, remains both her primary artistic calling card and her top career priority. Plus, at some point, she’ll probably have to find time to graduate high school. The 18-year-old pop sensation, whose single "Drivers License" launched at No. Olivia Rodrigo is a songwriter above it all. I think she's incredible.". In the end, Rodrigo says Geffen had the right pitch for her. (She got her first vaccine dose the day before her Billboard cover shoot: “So if I look tired as hell, that’s probably why.”) But her team wants her to take some time off first. Those influences, mixed with Rodrigo’s fondness for Lorde’s emotionally layered pop anthems and the vivid storytelling of country music, began to influence her own songs, which she started writing as a tween. Originally, Geffen planned for Rodrigo to release an EP. On May 14, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, the popular Disney+ show on which she stars as talented but insecure theater kid Nini Salazar-Roberts, launches its second season. © 2021 Billboard Media, LLC. The driver's license singer, 17, addressed the rumor in an interview with billboard. “She’s the real deal. “When ‘drivers license’ came in, we were like, ‘Whoa, we got one here!’ ” says Sam Riback, co-head of A&R at IGA. "I don't know, she put it so eloquently, and when I say it now... it's not as cool. “But she talks a lot about how, I think, you make your own luck in the world. That buzz was hardly quashed by Rodrigo’s follow-up single in April, the wistful but seething “deja vu,” which appeared to be a thematic continuation of her breakout hit — down to Rodrigo’s disappointed sighs in the second verse about her ex’s new girl: “another actress.” Returning to that subject matter was not necessarily a safe choice: It further churned the gossip mill and risks typecasting her as, in her words, “the heartbreak girl.”, There’s much more where that came from on Sour, which has no shortage of additional heartbreak on its 11 tracks. The song was also inescapable in the headlines. US; Artist 100; All Weekly Charts; YEAR-END . But some of my favorite artists are not commercially successful, and that doesn’t mean that they’re any less amazing. We talk her reaction and speak to her in an interview and Gaga J-Lo and more are set for Biden's inauguration. Give it a listen. Olivia Rodrigo opened up about being mentored by Taylor Swift for Billboard's newest cover story. 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