Olivia Rodrigo’s breakthrough may have been loud, but the song that catapulted her to it was not. “Driver’s Licence” was the slow-building, piano-led ballad that channelled the raw grief of your first heartbreak into a moment of catharsis. It turned Rodrigo into the first breakthrough of the decade, with a rapidity even her equally famous peers – Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan – had not experienced.
But through such whirlwind fame, Rodrigo has been the one in control – picking her own collaborators, writing her own songs, and doing everything at her own pace. She values craft above all, choosing her record label (Interscope/Geffen) because they recognised her songwriting talents, and demonstrating an acute awareness of how society might baulk when she embraces her own contradictions.
