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In many past iterations of what I would consider a normal Thursday night, I might be studying for an exam, writing a paper, at a party, at work, in a meeting. Last Thursday night, I was refreshing Spotify repeatedly around 9pm, in preparation for the release of Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR (2021).
I haven’t been this excited about the drop of a new record in a long time. After showcasing her extensive range with her three excellent singles and scoring multiple career-defining milestones—an SNL appearance, an interview with Seventeen, the cover of NME, a Rolling Stone feature, performing at the BRITS, a Vogue makeup tutorial—it would seem she had made it before her album even came out. People were clamoring for clues; she set up a phone number where you could call to get a preview, dropped hints in her newsletter, and published an album trailer. She developed a fan base off of a really good single, and a really good marketing team.
Olivia has always been adamant that she is a songwriter, more than anything. So many of her Disney-to-popstar predecessors were knocked immediately as fakes. People said Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and many others used their acting clout as a crutch for lack of talent as musicians. They had to prove themselves over and over again as more than their respective characters. There are many tried and true routes to recognition (shock factor being road most travelled), but Olivia Rodrigo carved her own path. She loves Jack White and Taylor Swift and The Smashing Pumpkins; her influences are eclectic as they are deep, and her singles preceding SOUR ranged from piano-driven ballad to alternative pop song to punk rock anthem. She’s proved to her audience that she can write, and that she’s more than a Taylor Swift knockoff. As of yesterday, “good 4 u” made history: Olivia Rodrigo is first artist to ever have two singles from a first record debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100 charts. She is the moment.
“good 4 u” obviously took a lot of inspiration from female punk outfits like Paramore, No Doubt, and Avril Lavigne. “Complicated” is a perfect complement to “good 4 u,” sonically and thematically. Avril Lavigne is reigning “pop-punk princess,” even years after the release of her most successful records. Her debut album Let Go (2002) is the best-selling album by a Canadian artist released in this century. “Sk8er Boi” is still one of the most ubiquitous songs ever made, across age demographics. “Complicated” cemented Lavigne’s permanence in the early-aughts music scene like Olivia Rodrigo’s more recent singles did for her. And if Avril Lavigne’s experience of instant fame is any indicator, Olivia Rodrigo has a long road ahead of her.
Avril Lavigne has long been the subject of media ridicule, from a manufactured feud with Britney Spears to constant pressure to show more skin to a conspiracy theory that she died in 2003 and was replaced with a body double. Her label pushed her to write more songs like “Girlfriend” and resist her natural evolution into ballads. She fought constantly with her management to put out music she was proud of, but eventually gave in to maintain her contract. She’s highly contradictory; a punk-rocker with ultra-conservative personal views, a feminist icon who doesn’t necessarily identify as a feminist. I can’t imagine that in this era of Internet surveillance Olivia Rodrigo would be allowed to be so problematic, but it’s likely, if not guaranteed, that the same level of criticism will be applied to her for lesser offenses.
Miss Grit is the solo project of musician Margaret Sohn. Her EP Imposter (2021) deals mainly with her convoluted identity as a Korean person who grew up in a white suburb. I put “Dark Side of the Party,” the first single, on 507 lucky. It’s a song about confident, self assured people, the kind of people who never experience imposter syndrome at all, with brash guitars to underscore the flippant lyrics. I’m not the first to draw a comparison between Miss Grit and St. Vincent, and “Imposter” is even more inspired by Annie Clark’s usage of electronic elements and weird guitar riffs. She also cites Nels Cline and LCD Soundsystem as influences, which manifest in her inventive use of the guitar.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the industry living without imposter syndrome. Female musicians are rarely taken seriously, often labeled as “singers,” as though it’s inherently easier to be a vocalist than an instrumentalist. Women are subject to excess scrutiny from labels, critics, and fans. Olivia Rodrigo has talked about imposter syndrome openly as a consequence of her dramatic trajectory and subsequent fame. The openness displayed by Rodrigo about her struggles with acne, heartbreak, and insecurity give me hope that the next generation of pop stars will be people we can all aspire to emulate—not perfect, but real.