That thing Olivia Rodrigo was teasing the other day with her updated website depicting a US driver's license? It turns out that she wasn’t trailing her third album after all, but an intriguing covers project.
The first song to be released as part of it will be David Byrne’s interpretation of her breakthrough hit, er Drivers License. It will be the first of a number of covers leading up to the fifth anniversary of her debut album Sour, in May. Rodrigo announced the project on Instagram yesterday, saying: “SOUR is turning 5 years old this year! and to celebrate, I’m so excited to announce an upcoming series of reimagined SOUR covers from some of my favourite artists ever.”
“We’re starting off insanely strong with an incredible reworking of ‘Drivers License’ from one of my all-time heroes, David Byrne. David is nothing short of a legend and I actually cried when I heard his version of this song. I’m stoked!! Go give it a listen.”
The new version is on streaming platforms now, but there is also a 7-inch (remember those?) that’s coming out in April that includes the pair’s version of Burning Down The House that they performed at the New York Governor’s Ball last year on the B side. And in the US, there is also a special 4-inch vinyl version that’s being sold at Target as part of their ‘Tiny Vinyl’ series, which has Rodrigo’s original on its flip.
There is no news yet on what other artists have been lined up to cover songs from Sour, nor how long and how many of these releases there are. It does indicate that a third album from the 22-year-old singer is probably not imminent.
In fairness, Rodrigo said as much in an interview last October to Nylon magazine, in which she said “I’ve been having a lot of fun dreaming things up”, which suggested that she was still in the process of writing new material.
