This 12 months Olivia Rodrigo cemented her standing as one in all pop’s most formative voices, proving that her preliminary breakout and popularity of “drivers license” was no fluke, thanks very a lot. And earlier than she heads into an excellent greater 2024, which can embrace an enviornment tour for her sophomore album GUTS and turning 21, she’s making an attempt out one thing new: lending her abilities to the large display.
Final 12 months, she was requested by the powers that be at The Starvation Video games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to preview the film, simply in case musical inspiration struck. The result’s the movie’s theme “Can’t Catch Me Now,” an emotive and highly effective acoustic anthem the place Rodrigo lushly harmonizes with herself and proves that—together with piano ballads, pop confections, and various rock—the star’s deft expertise shines by way of a people lens as properly. The music is at present incomes Oscar buzz, and marks yet one more step in direction of Rodrigo’s world domination.
Self-importance Honest: You earned a slew of Grammy nominations and now have Oscar buzz for the Starvation Video games music. How are you feeling?
Olivia Rodrigo: It’s completely surreal and it’s all simply so thrilling. On the finish of the day, I like making music and expressing myself and making issues that encourage me. The truth that different folks prefer it and are nominating it for Grammys and all that different stuff, it’s icing on the cake. I’m very grateful.
Coldplay, Taylor Swift, and Lorde have all recorded a music for the Starvation Video games movies. That’s not dangerous firm. I do know you have been a fan earlier than, proper? However how diehard of a fan have been you?
I really learn the books earlier than I watched the films after I was youthful. I bear in mind tearing by way of the books considering they have been so fascinating. Humorous sufficient, I don’t assume I watched all the films till this 12 months. However I fell in love with all of them and I believe Jennifer Lawrence is unimaginable, clearly. Greater than something although, I’ve been a extremely huge fan of the soundtracks. I grew up listening to them and I believe they simply do a extremely good job of type of capturing the essence of the films.
All your songs are autobiographical, or on the very least semi-autobiographical. So then would that make “Can’t Catch Me Now” one of many solely songs you’ve written that has nothing to do together with your private life? Or perhaps it does…
I believe that was the enjoyable problem for me as a songwriter. I write quite a lot of my songs for my album from a really diaristic standpoint; I write them to course of how I really feel, which is a lot enjoyable. However this acquired me to flex new muscle groups to jot down a music for The Starvation Video games by way of the eyes of one other character, Lucy Grey. I believe restriction could be very inspiring to creatively. For those who had each shade and palette and any dimension canvas you’d need, it’d type of really feel overwhelming and also you wouldn’t make something notably inspiring. However I believe by proscribing your self, you possibly can type of drive your mind to work in several methods and have a extremely enjoyable time doing it. So whereas it was very a lot about Lucy Grey, I believe I injected components of myself into it too. I noticed bits of myself in her; I admired her resilience, so I attempted to embody all that and put it into the music.
In your profession as a songwriter, you’ve made this selection to jot down these diaristic songs such as you’ve stated. Not each songwriter will get so private of their music. Proper from the bat have been you writing truthful tracks out of your private experiences, or was there an evolution?
