Olivia Rodrigo Drives Into a New Era
Two years ago, Olivia Rodrigo burst onto the scene after her single “Driver’s License” took social media by storm. Her debut album SOUR earned her numerous accolades and catapulted her into stardom. Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, will hit shelves soon, and along with her music, Rodrigo herself is driving into a new phase of life.
Olivia Rodrigo graced the cover of Vogue as the first Filipino to make the cover for their August issue. She looks back on her time in the industry and the one single that changed everything.
Rodrigo had her sights set on Hollywood from the start. As a child, her parents would buy her plastic microphones where she sang songs about grocery stores. She would go to hundreds of auditions and book one small role, her mother recalled. Rodrigo’s parents gave her until Christmas, when she was 12, to book a larger role, or else the auditions would stop.
Right before Christmas, Rodrigo booked an American Girl film; from there, it was all uphill. She went on to book Disney’s Bizardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series shortly after, where she released her debut single, “All I Want.” That same year, “Driver’s License” came out; the rest is pop culture history.
She was firm about releasing a full-length album rather than an EP because she really wanted people to see her range. SOUR was the cure for anyone going through a heartbreak, including Rodrigo, but she’s found a silver lining between the uncertainties and social media headlines. “The most painful moment of my life turned into my most successful,” Rodrigo stated.
New photos from vogue magazine pic.twitter.com/JLrFCoajiy— Olivia Rodrigo News (@AccessOliviaR) July 6, 2023
The album led to awards and performances, like one of her first on Saturday Night Live, to which Rodrigo remembers, “She had never been more scared in her life than she was in the dressing room, that she was literally crying from nerves.”
As we near the release of GUTS, fans are hanging onto every little teaser they can get. At the moment, we do know that Rodrigo called this album “a time capsule.” This time, Rodrigo discussed her disciplined routine of making bacon, playing the piano, and writing music every morning. She removed all distractions from her life to ensure she was putting out exceptional work to follow her debut. “I’m not going on 17, going through my first heartbreak, crying, with words just pouring out of me,” she mentioned.
olivia rodrigo and vogue never misses pic.twitter.com/aL1P7gUByM— vampire miguel I taylivia stan 🩸 (@cowboyinwoods13) July 6, 2023
GUTS is “about figuring stuff out, about failures and successes and making mistakes.” Rodrigo teased. She also mentions that we’ll hear more about these mistakes in the album, although others have “made her worst mistakes look fine,” as stated in her new single “Vampire.”
Of course, fans went into a frenzy in trying to figure out who Rodrigo was talking about, which Rodrigo feels is one of the hardest parts of writing from an autobiographical standpoint, “ The internet will instantly dissect the lyrics to find clues about her personal life.” Nonetheless, this album is shaping up to be the soundtrack of everyone’s 20s, singing along with Rodrigo as we grow and drive into a new phase of life.
Olivia Rodrigo’s new album, GUTS, will be released on September 8. You can pre-save now and check out Rodrigo’s full feature in Vogue.
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