Olivia Rodrigo: A Teenager Making a Difference in the Music Industry
You probably have heard her hit song drivers license. But who is Olivia Rodrigo and how is she achieving groundbreaking records at such a young age?.
The Woman Post | Valentina Ibarra
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Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album “Sour,” expressing all the bittersweet sentiments that come with the end of adolescence. It became the biggest opening week for an album in Spotify’s history, breaking records of established artists like Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift.
"Sour" reception is unlikely for a debut album. She became the first artist ever to debut three singles from her first record in the Top No. 10 of the Billboard Top 200, two of which got to No.1. She even broke her record, as "good 4 u" became the biggest streamed song, beating her own "drivers license."
For a not consolidated artist, these numbers are rare, showing that this is just the beginning of a brilliant career. After her first song became a hit, she received lots of criticism on social media calling her a 'one-hit wonder’. Even as she proved them wrong, it raises the question of why are people so harsh on new artists? Especially when they are young women.
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Just two years ago Billie Ellish received backlash after her album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" started to get media attention. It got so bad that she was seen mouthing “please don’t be me” before the award 'album of the year' was announced in the 2019’s Grammy. Even so, she won the award and apologized for it. Billie was only 18, she should not feel like she has to apologize for being successful. But all the hatred online created insecurities in how much she deserves her awards.
Olivia’s success came with rumors on who the songs are for, creating drama that resulted in insults towards Sabrina Carpenter, the other women involved in the story. After that, Olivia started to receive attacks ensuring that it was her fault because she should have not explicitly written about her ex-boyfriend.
Even as Olivia never said anything about who the songs were for, people started to theorize about her personal life and then said she should not only write about boys and break-up experiences. Her response to The Guardian was: “I’m a teenage girl, I write about stuff that I feel really intensely – and I feel heartbreak and longing really intensely – and I think that’s authentic and natural. I don’t really understand what people want me to write about; do you want me to write a song about income taxes?”
It is empowering to see how she defends her art; young girls should be able to write about their feelings without this scrutiny. As Taylor Swift mentioned, male artists like Ed Sheeran only write about their romantic experiences too, but they are never criticized in the way women are. That is why we celebrate young girls like Olivia, who get to succeed in an industry where women are treated differently for expressing their feelings. They are paving the way to the next generations, just like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and lots of other women did for them.
