Olivia Rodrigo: Gen Z’s rising star

With the release of her debut album SOUR on 21 May, 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo has become one of Gen Z’s most prominent artists.

With an outpouring of positive reviews for the album, SOUR is a mix of teenage angst, whimsical harmonies, heartache and a whirlwind of emotions. The album became the first female album to have all singles peak within the top 3 of the Apple Music US charts with ‘driver’s licence‘, ‘good 4 u’ and ‘deja vu’ . This has not happened since Ariana Grande’s album ‘thank u, next‘ which was released two years ago.

olivia rodrigo’s album makes me wanna teleport back to high school because every word is EXACTLY how i felt as a teenager… i’m just gonna listen and pretend i am 16 and a boy just broke my heart — olivia o'brien (@oliviagobrien) May 21, 2021

Olivia Rodrigo is IT. The voice. The lyrics. The aesthetic. The talent. The FEELING. The lack of parallel parking skills. Truly outstanding. Can’t wait to watch her rise to even greater success. #OliviaSour — Eugene Lee Yang (@EugeneLeeYang) May 21, 2021

Who is Olivia Rodrigo and how is she changing the pop music scene?

The Filipina-American singer first became recognised as Nini in Disney’s High School Musical: The Series with her song that she performed in the show ‘All I want’ becoming extremely popular worldwide.

However, it was when she released the post-breakup anthem ‘Driver’s License’ that she was internationally recognised as an artist and became a pop music giant overnight.

Hitting triple platinum in the US and smashing the record for the highest single-day streams in British history beating Ed Sheeran.

Her emotive singing style and dynamic vocals captivated all melodramatic, hopeless romantics around the world who also relate to Rodrigo’s expressive lyrics about the expectations of relationships, heartbreak and being a typical teenager.

“I wanted my first album to be just me. I wanted it to be an introduction to the world.” – Rodrigo speaking to the Southeast Asia Press

The whiplash between genres she transitions into each song she releases such as pop-punk Paramore style songs with ‘good 4 u’ to emotional gut-wrenching songs such as ‘traitor’ shows her versatility and a refreshing take on pop music that shows that she isn’t just the typical generic pop singer that sings about love.

You can listen to SOUR here.