- All right.
I am here on the Friday live stream
with one of the most talked about,
probably if we're being honest,
the most talked about new artist in 2021, a force
of nature behind the global sensation Driver's License.
Please. Welcome to the FLS, Olivia Rodrigo.
- Hey, thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
- It's been such a whirlwind of just like, not even a year
but a couple of months for you.
Of course.
How are you just handling it all?
- You know, it's every song writers
biggest dream to have a song that is so personal resonate
with so many people.
And um- it's really surreal to have so many people
that I've idolized for my entire life
sort of reach out to me
and tell me that they liked the song.
So yeah, just on cloud nine doing, doing everything
- How are your friends and family
if you don't mind me asking uh reacting
to this new global fame?
- Literally the same, my mom's still like Olivia
you're not doing your homework.
Like do your homework and like clean your room and stuff
Like that.
You know, my family and my friends are all so supportive
of me and really thrilled that I get to do this.
That I've been wanting to do since I was like little
- Right. Was it always music and acting like hand-in-hand or
- I fell in love with music first I've been singing
and writing songs since I could literally speak, my mom has
like home videos of me making up ridiculous songs
when I'm like three, four years old.
And I don't have anything to write about, except
for like going to the grocery store with my parents.
- Right.
- I- I'm always just like obsessed with emotions.
And I think that's why I like song writing so much.
And I think that's also why I like acting so
much, but music has always been my first love
- Great much has been made.
Of course you're a big Taylor Swift fan.
She's also, it's a mutual, it's a reciprocal thing.
She loves you as well.
- Yeah, that was insane.
I mean, the first sort of like public interaction I had
with her was actually on MTV's Instagram live stream.
I uh sang a cover of cruel summer
which is like my favorite track off her record "Lover."
And somehow it like got to her and she posted
like a little clip of it on her Instagram story.
And she was like, "you're so talented.
Thank you for this cover."
And I liked screamed my head off for five minutes.
So that was pretty surreal.
And you know
there's been a couple other instances of
stuff like that.
She's just so kind, and um yeah,
I look up to her a ton.
- Yeah. Let's talk about driver's license, of course
The start of that song is really interesting where
it's the one piano note, of course.
And then they, you know, the sound of the car door opening.
Was that something that, you know
it was like sort of like some spice you threw on afterwards
at the end or was that a, was that a leading thought of it?
- It was spice that we threw on afterwards.
I wrote that like (imitates piano sounds)
because I think that's really beautiful.
I think it's called like suspension or something
in piano when you just keep one note the same
in one hand and do different things with the other hand.
And it sounds like really like heartbreaking, I think to me.
And so I really liked that sort of piano motif.
And then once we got in the studio
I told my producer Dan Nigro, I was like
I thought he was going to think it was
like the stupidest idea.
I almost like didn't want to say it.
I was like, should we put car sounds in it?
Like, would that be like strange?
And I was like really scared to say it because it's so
weird and he's like, yeah, no, that's, that's great.
And so I called my mom and I was like, can you like
open your door, like record the noise.
And she did it for me, shout out to mom.
So yeah.
And I actually think it, it adds a lot to the song.
I think it's really cool.
- That's amazing.
I'd love to go to the song
writing credits and see like moms passenger side door.
- Mom gets a co-producing credit.
Yeah.
- Just so much has been made about the bridge.
And it was like, you know, sort of the standout moment
of the famous SNL sketch when, you know
they got to the bridge there.
- Yeah. The bridge was the last thing to come on the song.
So I had written the two verses and the chorus
by myself and I took it to my collaborator, Dan Nigro
and we were like, okay, well we gotta write a bridge.
And he's like, what if he writes something
like super huge and I was like so down
And yeah, I can't wait to like, get to perform live
and hear people sing that part of the song.
I think it's going to be really epic.
- That's awesome.
I know people are, you know, they're very hungry for
what's a chapter two after Driver's License.
Can you tell us anything about what's next?
- I can't give like too many details
but it's definitely not like Driver's License at all
which I'm really excited about.
People are gonna get to get to see another aspect
of my music and my songwriting.
So I'm super stoked and also really nervous
but I think, you know, that's that's life.
- So Driver's License was like your, hello.
What do you want to say?
In like your, your follow-up sentence
if you will, with this next song?
- Wow. That is such like an existential
like deep music question.
I love that.
No, I, I, I guess I just want people to um see more
about who I am as a person and get to know me better.
And I think my next singles sort of are reflective of that.
And you know, there's also a lot
of aspects of a breakup that aren't like, you know
sadness and stuff like that.
You know, there's so many facets
of relationships and of my personality.
So, you know, I think it's gonna to be really exciting
for people to see more of that.
- Let's talk high school musical just really quick
season two, it's coming out pretty soon.
Friday, May 14th for those at home.
Did they give you the opportunity to
write any more original music for the series?
- They did actually, which I was so grateful
for my experience writing
for season one was so extraordinary.
It's really cool that they got
they gave me an opportunity to write some pieces
for season 2 as well.
And it's one of my favorite songs that I've written.
I had a really fun time writing it.
And it's sort of an interesting concept
that I hadn't really written anything about before.
So I'm really excited for
people to hear it.
- That's awesome.
Earlier on in quarantine, you were writing a song a day
which I think is probably just such a great exercise
for any aspiring songwriter.
Do you have any favorites from, from, from that era?
- I actually wrote this song called 21st century
girls that I wrote and then posted on Instagram.
It's actually about sort of
like comparing yourself to girls on Instagram.
And so, you know, super ironic
but I like wrote that about like how much I hate Instagram
and just like post on Instagram.
But that was a really special experience.
And, you know, seeing everyone react to that song
the way that they did was really sort of uplifting.
And it just made me realize how not alone
I was feeling in like my insecurity
and I hope it made other people feel more seen too
- Are any of those going to be future singles?
I can't give away too much
I'm just gonna have to like-
You know sometimes, I get
in my head about putting out music, but you know
at the end of the day, it's like, it's like
time stamping like your life.
It's like, this is how I'm feeling right now.
And like, you know
- Especially, I should say like the style
of music that you make that's just so raw and real and
like oversharing, which should be its own genre, by the way.
I love that term you use.
- Oversharing genre of music?
- Yeah. I can't wait for the Spotify playlist like
"Oversharing."
- Literally, no but I mean, I think that
I think I do make all of my music for me.
I think my music would be bad if I was like sitting, writing
at the piano being, like, what are people going to like
like what are people, you know
like that just doesn't feel like authentic.
And I think people can pick up on that
but at a certain point, you like
give it to the universe and give it to people.
And it's not yours anymore.
And like that's when it's, you know, other people's music.
- Yeah. Well said, we were talking to your friend
Tate McRae earlier today and she was talking
about a song that she wrote when she was 15
you know, she's 17
Now of course she was saying, she was like, well
I don't feel that way anymore, but there's a 15 year old.
That probably feels exactly that way.
- Exactly. I think the music that Tate made when she was
15, I'm 18 now,
And I still relate to music she made when she was 15.
I think she's great.
- That's awesome.
We can't thank you enough
for stopping by the show, Olivia.
- Thank you so much.
It was a blast.