Olivia Rodrigo recently launched her debut album, which has garnered the No. 1 position at Billboard 200 with 2021’s biggest week so far. She recently talked about many of the songs in an interview with Zach Sang.
The singer was eagerly sharing what went behind her songwriting inspiration and process. It was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday i.e., May 30. She described herself as being an “in-the-present songwriter”. The Drivers License singer shared she writes songs when she in in depths of her emotions.
Both her and Zach talked about heart-wrenching songs like Enough for You and 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back. They also discussed about the surprising album opener, Brutal and much more. Some of the highlights of the 22- minute interview are below.
Olivia revealed that Brutal turned out to be the opening number but was added at the last minute. She shared that she wrote the song two weeks before she had to turn the record in. The singer said it is one of her favourite songs on the record but she thinks it sounds unique and loves the songwriting part of it.
She said, “I think it really represents my teenage years very well. I really wanted to put it as the opening track. Everyone was like, ‘Olivia, are you sure you want to that? It’s kind of weird,’ and I was like, ‘Love it. I wanna do it.'” The singer further explained what an “ego crush” is, from the song’s lyrics itself.
“It’s sort of ironic and weird.”
Olivia further shared that it is a song about when one is in that pity party and they are feeling sorry for themselves. She said it is the things a person would say when they are in that state. “It’s sort of funny to have songs get big about like, how much you feel like nobody likes you,” noted Rodrigo. “It’s sort of ironic and weird.”
The singer then talked about how Taylor Swift ended up on 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back. At the beginning of the song, chirping birds can be heard which is an idea Sour producer, Daniel Nigro came up with. “My producer Dan, he actually just like stuck a microphone out of his window of his house and recorded the birds in the morning and put them in the song, which I think is great and it sort of adds a cool ambiance,” Rodrigo said of the track that was overall inspired by a text message.
She shared that she loved the concept of the song and somebody texted it to her once. The singer said she has never heard anybody say it like that and she thought it would be great to described this toxic relationship. Swifties will surely be able to recognize the piano from New Year’s Day on the song.
Olivia shared some details about the same as she shared they “interpolated New Year’s Day” which is Taylor’s song from Reputation. She further added that she wrote the lyrics and decided to sing it over the chord of New Year’s Day. The singer described it as beautiful and that she was lucky enough to get that approved.
Enough For You Is Not Necessarily About A Romantic Relationship
Further, she talked about Enough For You as she shared it is one of her favourite songs on the record. Olivia said she wrote it by herself which she is absolutely proud of. She said, “It’s super, obviously, very insecure and vulnerable, but I also love how it’s really hopeful”. The singer said that in reference of the turnaround point of the song when she comes to the realization that “someday I’ll be everything to somebody else.”
Olivia further clarified that she does not think it is necessarily related to a romantic relationship. She shared that she feels inadequate in many relationships whether it is a work relationship or a friendship relationship. The singer then shared why Hope Ur Ok is her ideal closing track.
She shared how the track makes her really sad in a great way and it makes her emotional. The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actress revealed it is a personal song about people she really loves. “That one gets me,” Rodrigo said of Sour‘s sweet final note.
The singer further shared that she feels “super hopeful” and that Sour is a “sad, angry, emotional record”. She said, “I wanted to end it with a song that was like, you know, ‘We’re all gonna be all right. We’re gonna get over it. Everything’s gonna be OK, and we have each other.’ It was really important for me to end this sort of somber record on that note.”
Watch Rodrigo’s full conversation on the Zach Sang Show below.
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