A new year always brings in new stars, and even though 2021 is barely out of the gate, one of the year’s rising pop voices is already making huge waves. Olivia Rodrigo has been featured on several Disney shows, playing Paige Olvera on Bizaardvark and Nini Salazar-Roberts in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and even appeared on an episode of New Girl back in 2017.
But this year she’s put the silver screen on the back burner to focus on her music career, releasing her debut single, “Drivers License,” last week. Since it came out, the video has racked up over 16 million views on Youtube and earned her comparisons to the likes of Lorde and Taylor Swift – not bad company! “Drivers License” is the lead single on her forthcoming EP, and follows up a track she wrote for the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series soundtrack called “All I Want,” along with a co-write with High School Musical co-star Joshua Bassett on “Just For A Moment.”
Those songs are very much in the Disney lane though, while “Drivers License” is a more mature reflection on heartbreak and coming of age. The fact that the song is resonating with both critics and other pop stars is also a great sign of things to come for Rodrigo. Because along with getting comparisons to Taylor’s songwriting, she’s also found a fan in the Evermore artist.
thinking about legally changing my name to "Taylor Swifts baby" pic.twitter.com/EDn6xo15kW
— Olivia Rodrigo (@oliviarodrigo) January 10, 2021
“Next to Taylor on the US iTunes chart I’m in a puddle of tears,” Rodrigo wrote in an Instagram comment earlier this week, a moment made more sweet when Taylor commented back “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud.” Obviously the only thing to do after praise like that is post about it on a different social media platform, so Rodrigo took a screenshot and took to Twitter writing “Thinking about legally changing my name to “Taylor Swifts baby.”
Next step? Collaboration. I mean, Taylor is obviously in the zone lately. Let’s see how this plays out. If you haven’t heard it yet check out “Drivers License” above and look for a lot more from Olivia coming soon.
