Olivia Rodrigo has revealed that she grew up believing that only white women could be recognised as pop stars.
When Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang asked Rodrigo how her Filipino American background has influenced her career, she replied that it’s “something incredible to think about.”
“I sometimes get DMs from little girls being like, ‘I’ve never seen someone who looked like me in your position.’ And I’m literally going to cry, like, just thinking about it,” Rodrigo said in the V Magazine feature.
“I feel like I grew up never seeing that. Also, it was always like, ‘Pop star,’ that’s a white girl.”
Rodrigo continued on to discuss her relief over the music industry no longer forcing artists to confine themselves to a certain genre.
“I am so inspired by so many different genres of music. I love country music so much, and I love rock music so much. And obviously, pop music is my favourite,” she said.
“And another thing that I think is really special is that, in 2021, I feel like artists aren’t really boxed into a genre anymore. I look at someone like Billie Eilish, who I’m so obsessed with, and her music is like pop, but it’s kind of rock, too.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, she opened up about the “pressures” of being a pop star today, including dealing with ageism.
“There’s this pressure for young women in pop music. And it’s like this thing where you’re only successful if you’re under 30. I’ve always resented that because I think I’m just going to get better with age,” she said.
“You know what I mean? I’m just going to become a better songwriter and know what I want to say more,” she added. “I think that’s actually a really fun, exciting part of being in the space that I’m really encouraged to sort of have different eras and reinvent yourself.”
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Check out ‘good 4 u’ by Olivia Rodrigo:
