Olivia Rodrigo has made 2021 her year. In January, the 18-year-old actress-turned-pop star became an overnight sensation with her single "drivers license." But with mega popularity comes public scrutiny — especially as a young woman in music.
After the success of "drivers license," listeners started digging into Rodrigo's love life, wondering who exactly the song was about and speculating on the events that inspired it. That attention heightened with the release of Rodrigo's debut album SOUR, which arrived in May.
In the September issue of GQ, Rodrigo shared how it felt "weird" having the public's hyperfocused energy on her love life as a teenager.
"It was really hard for me to watch people on TikTok and stuff that dissects my 17-year-old love life," she said. "That was really weird. But again, I think I understood the curiosity. It doesn't affect me; it doesn't matter. It doesn't affect my songwriting and my life."
The "good 4 u" singer shared that she has since has cut down her social media consumption to 30 minutes a day, "which is honestly the biggest blessing," according to the pop star.
"It helps to not look at that shit. You're literally not meant to know what everyone is saying about you at all times," Rodrigo said.
She continued: "When people who don't know me are criticizing me, they're criticizing my persona, not my person. But that's really difficult, though, too, because my persona is being as genuine and honest as I possibly can, so it's this weird dichotomy."
Rodrigo also spoke about the shift the music industry has had towards women in recent years. "People are getting better at not taking advantage of and manipulating and bullying young women," she explained.
"But it's still so apparent, and I witness that too. Not near at the level that Britney has, obviously. I think that's an important paradigm that I hope that we'll be able to break in the coming generations. I've definitely seen corporate dollars be prioritized over people's mental health. That's always been something that I've been really conscious of in my own career, and I'm really lucky I'm surrounded by people who are conscious of that and conscious of my mental health being the most important thing."
While talking about her own experience in the industry, the young singer said she's doing pretty well.
"I'm so happy for the first time in so long, I just don't want to fuck with it, you know what I mean?" Rodrigo said. "I just love my girlfriends and love my job and am exactly where I've always wanted to be. Everything else is just icing on the cake."
Read the full interview here.
After the success of "drivers license," listeners started digging into Rodrigo's love life, wondering who exactly the song was about and speculating on the events that inspired it. That attention heightened with the release of Rodrigo's debut album SOUR, which arrived in May.
In the September issue of GQ, Rodrigo shared how it felt "weird" having the public's hyperfocused energy on her love life as a teenager.
"It was really hard for me to watch people on TikTok and stuff that dissects my 17-year-old love life," she said. "That was really weird. But again, I think I understood the curiosity. It doesn't affect me; it doesn't matter. It doesn't affect my songwriting and my life."
The "good 4 u" singer shared that she has since has cut down her social media consumption to 30 minutes a day, "which is honestly the biggest blessing," according to the pop star.
"It helps to not look at that shit. You're literally not meant to know what everyone is saying about you at all times," Rodrigo said.
She continued: "When people who don't know me are criticizing me, they're criticizing my persona, not my person. But that's really difficult, though, too, because my persona is being as genuine and honest as I possibly can, so it's this weird dichotomy."
Rodrigo also spoke about the shift the music industry has had towards women in recent years. "People are getting better at not taking advantage of and manipulating and bullying young women," she explained.
"But it's still so apparent, and I witness that too. Not near at the level that Britney has, obviously. I think that's an important paradigm that I hope that we'll be able to break in the coming generations. I've definitely seen corporate dollars be prioritized over people's mental health. That's always been something that I've been really conscious of in my own career, and I'm really lucky I'm surrounded by people who are conscious of that and conscious of my mental health being the most important thing."
While talking about her own experience in the industry, the young singer said she's doing pretty well.
"I'm so happy for the first time in so long, I just don't want to fuck with it, you know what I mean?" Rodrigo said. "I just love my girlfriends and love my job and am exactly where I've always wanted to be. Everything else is just icing on the cake."
Read the full interview here.
