OLIVIA

“Gen Z and social media have put such an emphasis on positive change, education and inclusivity.”

Olivia Rodrigo arrives to our Zoom meeting two minutes early. She is wearing a baby blue fleece sweater over a striped tank top, and with her glossy hair over her shoulders, winged eyeliner and radiant skin, it hits me again that she is only 18. Rodrigo is effervescent and says a sprightly hello once we’re both connected to audio—and we delve quickly into conversation. For the most part, she is deliberate and composed. I catch brief glimpses of the teenager whom she is at moments when she is unaware—she laughs merrily when I tell her I love her nails (a different colour for each nail, from hot pink to pastel green, for a vinyl promotion she has on later that week).

It has been a whirlwind, nothing could have prepared her for the exponential success that was to come. In January, her debut single ‘Drivers License’, a poignant ballad about young heartbreak, broke a string of records-including Spotify’s for the most single-day streams for a non-holiday song. “Never in a million years could I have expected the response that it got. It completely changed my life forever,” admits Rodrigo with a small smile. “It was an incredible experience to write a song that you feel accurately expresses intense heartbreak, pain and longing, and watch all of those sad feelings resonate with other people.”