With the biggest hit of early 2021, the singer-songwriter was just getting started.
When Olivia Rodrigo scored the first big hit of 2021 with the heartbreak ballad drivers license – which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent eight weeks on top, a nearly unheard-of level of achievement for an official debut single – it seemed fairly likely that it would end up towering over the rest of her breakthrough year.
By the time her rookie season came to a close, however, drivers license was firmly in her rear view. With the scorching post-breakup missive good 4 u, Rodrigo scored a second Hot 100 No. 1 that proved just as culturally pervasive, with a shout-along chorus, searing guitars and pulse-racing drum fills that proved the pop-punk revival percolating just below the mainstream had officially emerged aboveground. And the album both tracks were on, the rapturously received and Billboard 200-topping Sour, became one of the year’s biggest full-length sets, earning an album of the year nod for this year’s Grammy Awards — one of seven awards Rodrigo is up for in April. Merely a year into her solo career, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter isn’t a one- or even a two-hit wonder; she’s simply Olivia Rodrigo.
“When people from all walks of life and all over the world really connect with an album and artist this powerfully, you don’t stand in the way,” says John Janick, chairman/CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA), whose Geffen label announced Rodrigo’s signing three days before the release of “drivers license” in January 2021. “You do what feels right and what is authentic to the artist and project. You also think long term.”
In the short term, that means preparing for her Sour tour – Rodrigo’s first time hitting the road – which begins in April and will take her across America and Europe through early July. But while Rodrigo’s early blockbuster success would undoubtedly allow her to fill arenas, she’s instead visiting mostly smaller amphitheaters and concert halls. “I think it’s important not to skip steps in my career,” she says of the underplay strategy. “And also, I’m just really excited to play these more intimate venues and get to know my fans on a deeper, more personal level.”
At the same time, Billboard’s Woman of the Year will also get reacquainted with herself, as she lays the groundwork for her next album — and she’ll do it with a significant new addition to her team. Rodrigo recently signed with Aleen Keshishian and Zack Morgenroth of Lighthouse Media + Management, joining a roster that includes Selena Gomez and a slew of A-list actors. (She parted ways with longtime manager Kristen Smith of Camp Far West in January; Rodrigo declined to comment on the change.)
“Olivia is a once-in-a-generation singer-songwriter,” says Keshishian. “We were blown away by her preternatural intelligence, work ethic, sensitivity and vision. It has been so impressive getting to know her and seeing firsthand how grounded and down to earth she is, as well as how much gratitude she has. Not only is she collaborative, but she is respectful and appreciative of her collaborators. For an artist to be able to take suggestions and synthesize them, while still making sure their vision is implemented, is an extremely unique quality and something at which Olivia excels.”
It’ll be a different process this time around for Rodrigo than when she was a high-schooler better known as a Disney TV star than as a singer-songwriter. But she has already reunited with a familiar face in Sour co-writer/producer Dan Nigro, and she says their work on that album’s follow-up is underway — and they even have a title already.
Billboard: Woman of the Year Olivia Rodrigo is Writing New Music
