Why Olivia Rodrigo is changing the music industry
Olivia Rodrigo, an 18-year-old girl who blew up in the music industry, in January of 2021. If you still haven’t heard of the song that gained her popularity, well the song is called “Driver’s License,” Before this top-charting song, many might not know that Olivia Rodrigo is an American Actress. She is most known for her role as Paige in the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark, and her most popular role at the moment is from the new Disney+ series, called “High School Musical: The Musical: The series:” In this show, her character is called Nini Salazar-Roberts. Before she released her first song, she was slightly known by the general public, but not as much as today. As someone who followed her on Instagram before she gained even more popularity, she started with 1 million followers in 2019, and later gained more, at the moment she has 11.4 million followers. Besides the following, when I was following her, she would always post her original songs, and I wondered when she would release music, and here she is becoming the pop sensation now.
Getting started with her first single, Driver’s License. This was Rodrigo’s first official single that she released, without realizing how much it would change her life. When I first heard the song, It made me feel all types of emotions because of how captivating her voice and lyrics were. Of course, this song had a story behind it, and many say that Driver’s Licence gained more attention because of the drama. The song was about a boy Rodrigo used to “date”, his name is Joshua Bassett her co-star for the Disney+ series. If you pay close attention to the lyrics, many assumed that she was talking about Bassett’s new girlfriend, Sabrina Carpenter, an American singer, and actress as well. Even though that could be a reason for the song’s popularity, I believe that the lyrics and emotions that Rodrigo represented in the song are what grabbed people’s attention, especially teenagers. Besides Rodrigo gaining more attention on her, Driver’s License started to gain achievements. For example, it broke the record on Spotify for the most single-day streams for a non-holiday song. It was also the biggest first week for a song on Apple Music and Amazon Music, and she also got her first HOT100 #1.
Seeing how successful Driver’s License was, she decided to drop another single called “Deja Vu” in April. This song was very different from her first single, but the audience seemed to enjoy a different side from her because she expressed how her producer/songwriter partner Dan Nigro, and her “didn’t want to do the safe thing and put out another heartbreak ballad” Said Rodgiro. Just this statement shows how passionate she is about music, and doesn’t care about the numbers but whether if her fans like it or not. Being able to try different genres is very special for artists, because it’s always exciting to hear a new song that you don’t expect, and that’s exactly what Rodrigo counties to do, which is why the general public is so interested in her. She then dropped her pop-rock single “good 4 u” in May. Again, this song was nothing the audience expected, but that’s the best part of Rodrigo, she has mastered being able to surprise the audience with different genres and sounds that many can enjoy. To this day, “good 4 u” is doing amazing on the charts, and she was able to get her second HOT 100. All these songs blew up due to the popular app Tiktok, and that’s another reason why she attracted millions of fans.
On May 21st, 2021, Rodrigo dropped her most anticipated album named “SOUR.” A lot of people, inducing me were very excited to see what other sounds she brought to the audience. And without a doubt, she dropped a flawless album. The songs were very universal and consisted of teen love but all the songs had different meanings. It almost felt like a comforting album, that many can enjoy. The lyrics and messages she was able to express through this album were what surprised me the most. Again, it’s no surprise that this album did AMAZING. She was able to set global Spotify records for having the biggest opening week for an album, written by a female artist. Rodrigo’s songs took over the charts everywhere, and at such a young age she has achieved such amazing success.
With all the genres she was able to put into her first album, it’s safe to say that she will continue growing and has a bright future ahead. I definitely recommend listening to “SOUR.” I don’t want to spoil much of the album, but trust me that there is a song for you on the album, no matter your age, gender try to give this album a listen.
SOUR out.
