Meteoric rise of Olivia Rodrigo revealed from Disney star writing songs at 13 to headlining Glastonbury & 14 Grammy nods
WITH buzzing music fans watching, Olivia Rodrigo will take to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage on Sunday to bring the world's most famous festival to a close.
At 22, she will be the second youngest ever to do so, after Billie Eilish in 2022 — and the only female act headlining this year.
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Her meteoric rise to fame has taken her from Disney Channel starlet to 46million monthly listeners on Spotify, 14 Grammy nominations and collaborations with David Byrne and Lily Allen.
So how did a Disney child actor come to make this journey through the ranks to grab the most prized slot at Worthy Farm?
Known for her heart-on-sleeve hits including Drivers License and Good 4 U, it seems Olivia was always destined to achieve her goals.
'I want to be a songwriter — I don't want to be the biggest pop star that ever lived,' she said in an interview.
'I worked my whole childhood and I'm never going to get it back.
'I didn't go to football games, I didn't have this group of girlfriends that I hung out with after school. That's kind of sad.'
Raised in a southern California town by her teacher mum Jennifer and therapist dad Chris, Olivia was only 12 when she made her acting debut as the lead in the American Girl doll franchise movie.
Before that, the self- professed 'theatre kid' had been writing songs — before going on to learn piano and guitar — and was inspired by Taylor Swift's country tones.
She once declared herself the 'biggest Swiftie in the world', and was also a huge fan of the in-your-face energy of Nineties and alt-rock groups such as No Doubt.
In 2016, Olivia was cast in Disney's Bizaardvark and three years later she starred in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a mockumentary that sees a bunch of teens putting on a stage production of the hit.
'I remember being in meetings when I was 13, and they were asking me what I wanted my brand to be,' she told Vogue.
'I was just like, 'I don't even know what I want to wear tomorrow'.'
Between High School Musical takes, the young actress worked away on her guitar, writing more music, until eventually Disney bosses invited her to create an original song for her character to sing in the show.
The piano ballad that emerged — All I Want — went viral, and she was soon in line for a record deal.
But unlike others who went from Disney favourite to superstar, such as Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, Olivia shunned the in-house label and decided to do things her own way.
And inspired by Taylor, she also made sure she had the rights to her masters from the start.
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Everything changed overnight in January 2021 when Olivia released her debut single Drivers License in the middle of winter lockdown.
It became the first song on Spotify to hit 80million streams in just seven days.
The tune also shot straight to No1 on charts globally and propelled her into what she called a 'crash course in adulthood'.
'That was the craziest time of my life,' she said back then.
'I was sitting in a grocery store parking lot, and I called my A&R guy.
'It had just gone No 1 on Apple music, which is hard for a pop act to do.
'We were looking at each other on FaceTime, speechless.
'That was the moment I knew that it was going to be something bigger than I expected.'
I just remember everyone being so weird and speculative about stuff they had no idea about.
Olivia Rodrigo
The story of a heartbroken teenager watching her ex move on quickly led fans to speculate it was about a rumoured love triangle with her former High School Musical co-star Joshua Bassett and Disney actress Sabrina Carpenter.
Its lyrics — 'You're probably with that blonde girl, who always made me doubt' seemed, to the TikTok gossipers at least, to be a nod to Espresso singer Sabrina, even though this was never confirmed.
Still, two weeks after Drivers License went global, Sabrina released Skin, which featured the lines 'maybe you didn't mean it, maybe 'blonde' was the only rhyme' and, 'you been tellin' your side, so I'll be tellin' mine', raising eyebrows even further.
The ensuing soap opera proved a struggle for both the young stars, while Joshua Bassett ended up in hospital.
He claimed he had heart failure amid the stress.
Olivia said: 'I put it out not knowing that it would get that reaction, so it was really strange when it did.
'I just remember everyone being so weird and speculative about stuff they had no idea about.'
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After Drivers License, Olivia's career went from strength to strength.
Her second single, Deja Vu, was certified four times platinum in the States, then May 2021 saw the release of her debut album Sour, with pop-punk hit Good 4 U going six times platinum in the US.
She earned rave reviews from critics, while artists including Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne heaped praise upon her.
Her first live performance in the UK was at the Brit awards in 2021, while her festival debut here was at Glastonbury the following year.
During her set there, she brought on Lily Allen and sang Allen's 2009 hit, F*** You.
Olivia also joined her heroes No Doubt on stage at 2024's Coachella in California, and performed alongside Chappell Roan in LA last August.
Earlier this month, she sang with Talking Heads' David Byrne during her headline set at New York's Governors Ball.
The pair belted out a cover of the band's hit Burning Down The House.
Documentary Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U (A SOUR Film) — which followed the making of her first album — debuted exclusively on Disney+ in March 2022.
'I don't kiss and tell'
And Netflix released Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour, about her global trek, last October.
Heartbreak remains her favourite subject to write about.
But she has kept much of her private life under wraps since the storm over that debut single, and once insisted: 'I don't kiss and tell.'
Instead, most of her feelings are expressed in her music.
Take her 2023 hit Vampire, in which she brands a mystery older ex a 'bloodsucker' who was only with her for fame.
She dated producer Adam Faze for seven months before things came to an end in early 2022, then entered into a short relationship with music executive Zack Bia that same year.
But despite her earlier pain, she is now loved up with British actor Louis Partridge, known for playing Sid Vicious in a series about the Sex Pistols.
He said in an interview last year: 'Dating probably shouldn't be done in the public eye . . . there's enough going on between two people.
'You don't need the voices of thousands of others in your head.'
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But that has not stopped them from going, in true Gen Z style, 'Instagram official'.
And last November, Louis, 22, took Olivia to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United take on Chelsea.
Dealing with the pressure of publicity is far from the only trouble Olivia has found herself in, though.
Hole singer Courtney Love took to social media to call out similarities between the artwork on her 1994 album Live Through This and promotional material for an Olivia Rodrigo concert, both of which featured the singers dressed as prom queens clutching flowers while mascara ran down their faces.
'My cover was my original idea. A thing you maybe have to actually live life to acquire?' wrote Nineties rock star Courtney, though the pair seemed to patch things up.
However, allegations of copyright infringement involving hits on Olivia's debut album and songs by Taylor Swift and Paramore would go on to cost the star millions.
Both acts ended up receiving not only 50 per cent of the royalties from the tracks they had inspired, Deja Vu and Good 4 U, but were included in the songwriting credits.
Olivia's outspoken nature did not help, as she had previously mentioned Tay's Cruel Summer was the direct inspiration for her hit.
Even last week, she was accused of making a Nashville venue take down Taylor Swift imagery before filming there in 2023, though it was later confirmed the removals were done for legal reasons.
'I was so green as to how the music industry worked, the litigious side,' Olivia has said.
Headlining Glastonbury alongside The 1975 and Neil Young shows that Olivia has come a long way, especially amid rumours her third album could be released this year.
She may look like the sweet girl next door, but her determination to direct her own career proves she is as punk as the rest of them.
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