Inspiration: Olivia Rodrigo's Sweet n' Sour Victory

You hear cloud’s tears splatter over your car’s windshield as you drive through the suburbs, a piece of your heart lost in the brutal world. You think, “I guess I’m jealous, although, I want you to be happier, good for you and I hope your ok, I’m just wondering if I was enough for you.” You aren’t the only one trying to climb out of this cluster of brainwashing emotions. Olivia Rodrigo’s got a shoulder for you to cry on. Most of the world has heard at least one song from Olivia Rodrigo’s hit album, SOUR. She has been topping the charts since her first single, Drivers License, which stayed its ground at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 for eight weeks straight. The raw emotions that she portrays throughout her songs help her connect with millions of fans on a deeper level.

Rodrigo’s success might have been a quick spike in our eyes but Olivia has been up and running for years trying to achieve her dreams. Olivia was inspired by her role model, Taylor Swift, and she makes it clear by expressing her inner (and outer) Swiftie in interviews. Olivia also used the chords of Taylor’s song in her own, 1 Step forward 3 steps back. She even addresses Taylor her “biggest idol and biggest songwriting inspiration” and it is evident that Swift’s work sparked a light in Olivia to become a star. Rodrigo then put this light into action by sharing her own voice at age 10 when she competed at the Boys & Girls Club Idols and effortlessly belted Jessie J’s Mama Knows Best. The little Olivia left the crowd in awe. She then carried her passion to acting. Rodrigo started her acting career by playing Grace in American Girl’s “An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success”. She then starred alongside Madison Hu in Disney’s “Bizaardvark” where she gained a little more popularity.

However, it wasn’t until she was cast in the hit series “High School Musical: The Series” that her original music was being played on repeat. It started off with her song All I Want which spread like wildfire through TikTok, an incredibly successful social media app that brought Olivia’s name in the spotlight.

With this new popularity, she released Driver’s License, arguably the most successful song of 2021, which again was all the talk on TikTok. The song held its ground at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 100 and Billboard’s Top 200 for eight consecutive weeks making it the longest running No. 1 on Billboard. It also gained recognition of Olivia’s idol, Taylor, as she commented “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud” to which Olivia “cried” in awe. Despite being an incredibly well-written song with beautiful vocals that millions of people have cried to, the main source of popularity was derived from the alleged rumors of Olivia’s breakup with her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, co-star, Joshua Bassett. Again, TikTok was sure to tackle the song with its takes on this so-called “love triangle” between Olivia, Joshua, and Bassett’s current girlfriend, Sabrina Carpenter. From analyzing lyrics such as “with that blonde girl” and “she’s so much older than me” and trying to unveil the secrets of the behind the scenes drama, people battled to find an answer, as well as thoroughly enjoy listening to the song. Although, there were some negative consequences to this drama such as hate being spread to the three stars, it was clear that it wasn’t the intent of Olivia when writing the song as she said in an interview with Billboard, “I totally understand people's curiosity with the specifics of who the song's about and what it's about, but to me, that's really the least important part of the song. It's resonating with people because of how emotional it is and I think everything else is not important." All in all, Rodrigo worked hard to make sure this new found buzz didn’t die down as she boosted her success to the next level: releasing an album.

Olivia has once again topped the charts with her SOUR album and single Good 4 U. SOUR has been wildly successful with millions of fans around the world falling in love with every uttered word. One of the songs in the album, Good 4 U is No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, with the album at No. 1 on Billboard 200, and Olivia herself striking (surprise!) at No. 1 on Artists 100. Olivia’s concert, SOUR Prom Live, was also a huge success in which she performed her album in a prom themed set. She followed this crowd-pleaser with her SOUR-themed car wash personally inviting fans to her car-wash prom in which fans were catered by Taco Bell, given car-washes, watched the SOUR Prom film, and were able to meet the one and only Olivia. Fans later went to TikTok to express their gratitude and how sweet Olivia was to them. Clearly, Olivia is working hard once more to carry herself up to the top and is, no doubt, one of the best artists of 2021!

Rodrigo’s quick success is truly inspiring to many as millions of people jam out to her album. She has resonated with the world with her lyrics, relating to her fans through music. Her victories have been deemed inevitable and her sweet personality has been shown to the world with the oppositely labeled album. With all of her accomplishments, we can only wait to love the next thing Olivia does.