"Everything flipped on its head": Olivia Rodrigo opens up on fame, loving music as a child, and heartbreak 

Former Disney star Olivia Rodrigo burst on to music scene with her track Driver's License and never had to look back since then. Her rise to superstardom since her days as a Disney kid starring in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series has been quite intriguing to say the least, and a story worthy of being told in interview for eager fans to listen to.

In an interview with Vogue on July 6, 2023, the singer talked elaborately on her newly found fame with the release of Drivers License and about her inclination towards music since her childhood days.

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She also spilled details on how heartbreak can be an extremely important human experience and how she utilized that emotion to make her music even more powerful and engaging.

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Olivia Rodrigo speaks on enjoying fame after the phenomenal success of Drivers License

Olivia Rodrigo rose to superstardom with her hit track Drivers License that was streamed 80 million times in its first week. The song documents her first heart break, and she wrote it during the pandemic when she was only 17.

Speaking of the phenomenal success that came after the release of the track, the singer said that nothing remained the same for her anymore.

"Everything flipped on its head," the twenty-year-old singer said.

Her album Sour came out in May 2021 following the release of her debut single Drivers License in January 2021 and the album made her the first artist in history to get her first three singles in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100.

Within a span of just a few years, she has been catapulted to peak celebrity status and even hailed as the ultimate Gen Z pop star.

However, in the interview the singer said that turning twenty beats it all. The three-time Grammy awardee said that turning twenty marked a definitively important phase in her life.

"Somehow, all of that totally pales in comparison to turning 20," the Sour hit maker said.

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Olivia Rodrigo on loving music since childhood and on heartbreak being the linchpin of her creative spirit

The former Disney star was extremely determined and desperate in wanting to make a name for herself in music. In the interview, the singer recounted how her parents would set a deadline for her after failing to bag promising roles after several auditions, but she had always been adamant about going down this path.

"I was always singing. I was always super motivated to do things," the singer recalled.

Sharing several touching and at the same time hilarious anecdotes about herself, the Vampire singer spoke of a time when, as a child, she would take up a microphone from the Dollar Tree and make up songs about "being lost in the grocery store".

Olivia Rodrigo also touched upon the creative drive that makes all her songs so heartachingly alluring to listeners. Heartbreak is the linchpin of all her lyrical mastery, but it necessarily isn't an unidimensional thing.

Speaking of the different kinds of heartbreak, the singer said that songs of heartbreak need not always come from personal experience. It is an universal emotion, so inspiration can be drawn from seeing other people experiencing heartbreak.

"It doesn’t necessarily have to be 'My boyfriend dumped me and I’m heartbroken,'" she said.

Indeed, whenever a popular artist drops a heartbreak medley, it is only the natural instinct of fans and listeners to dissect the song and tally the lyrics with the artist's personal life. However, Olivia Rodrigo says that it might not always be personal.

However, elaborating more on what drives her creativity, the singer said that she has outgrown the emotional outbursts the came in her teenage years. Instead, with age, her approach towards songwriting has grown more mature.

"I’m not going on 17, going through my first heartbreak, crying, with words just pouring out of me," the singer claimed.

Continuing to speak more on her approach to songwriting, the singer said that the "most painful" moment in her life became her most successful one, recalling a heartbreak that inspired her songs.

However, she made sure to not give all of it away. When prodded to speak more on the source of her heartbreak, Olivia Rodrigo diplomatically handled the question by responding:

"I don't kiss and tell".

With the roaring success of vampire globally, Olivia Rodrigo's status as the ultimate Gen Z pop icon remains uncontested. Her fans are now anticipating the release of her upcoming album GUTS which is scheduled to be released on September 8, 2023.