How are you feeling?
I'm good.
I'm all the things.
I'm excited, nervous, anticipatory, but it's good.
It hopefully never gets tired.
You never, ever lose all of those feelings, and more, when you've been working so hard on finding something to say, and then it's time to share with everybody else.
It's like, wow, it's the great artistic precipice, isn't it?
Yeah, for sure.
I just also feel like you actually hear the song for real the first time that it actually comes out, like when you're so close to it and in this like studio space and playing it for the people you love, like it has a different.
You don't get to see it like totally honestly.
And so now I'm just like putting it out into the world and I feel like I'll, able to listen to it as a real song for the first time it's tangible it's tangible it has life it has shape it has form it's it's not you know what how else do you explain its existence you know if not to go and find people's lives and become a part of their lives and it's on a journey of its own i totally agree that's why i still do live radio olivia because it sounds different when you play it on the radio than it does when you're listening to in a different context you know 100%.
I feel like context is like 75% of music sometimes.
Totally.
Which is great.
Hey, congratulations.
The song is a crush.
You know, I saw the album title and I was like, okay, is it a sad album?
But we're starting with a big love song.
I mean, this is a big, unapologetic love song.
The question I'm sure fans want to know is why did you decide to release this one as an introduction to the third album?
Yeah, it's a great question.
It's one I've been thinking about a lot.
I think this song has always been the first step on this journey of you seem pretty sad for a girl.
So in love, it's about a first date.
And so it's just feels like a new beginning and it's just trying to capture all those feelings of meeting someone that you have feelings for and just being like nervous and like kind of insecure but super excited and just like lovesick over this person.
And um.
So yeah, this is the first chapter in the book of You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl, So In Love and it's very joyful.
I think the feelings start to ebb and flow and arc from here, but this is like the jumping off point.
I'm glad that you established that there are shades to this experience that, like all great books, there's going to be different chapters along the way.
For sure.
But we stay in a lovesick space in an album that you rattled off the tongue like it was nothing, because you've lived with it for way longer than we have.
But you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.
There, I just did it too.
Wow.
You know what actually like everything you do with your writing man, you know the words fit together beautifully.
But obviously not to be super meta or actually micro about it.
Micro meta one of the two, it's not one word, dude.
And people are just like I thought you were going to give us.
Someone said to me the other day she broke the rule.
And I said, it's her rule.
She can break it whenever she wants.
But the question is like when did you decide?
You know what man?
I'm not going to be stuck to any dogma.
I'm just going to do what feels right.
And I'm not going to follow because you have been thematic at times through these things.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think I kind of knew really early on that I sort of wanted to break that mold a little bit.
I mean, I'm older now.
This is like an album that I made when I was 22.
The other albums I made when I was a teenager and it just sort of felt like a natural progression to just sort switch things up and just artistically wanted to just do something different.
But I really love the title.
I think I set out to make this album and I just wanted to perfect a sad love song because I think all of my favorite love songs are so beautiful because there's an element of yearning or melancholy or fear.
And like, that's kind of the thing That unrequited nature.
Totally.
I think that grounds it in something real and is why we resonate with those types of songs so much.
When I found the title I was really excited because I think it just really captured the thesis statement of what I was trying to go for.
It's a beautifully descriptive title.
And you feel what we're about to listen to straight away, before we even get a chance to experience it.
You talked about writing the songs that you were searching for those feelings when you were younger.
And life doesn't catch up to art.
Sometimes you're creating before your life can even inform it um, and you know, then you're successful at that and people are like wow, you know, you really know yourself.
But is it safe to say that you've really gotten to know yourself on this album in a much deeper way?
Yeah, i mean, i think every album is just uh, journey of self-discovery and also just like learning how to write songs.
I kind of feel like my whole songwriting journey is just like I'm really practicing writing songs and then, like my practice homework is the songs that I like turn into the album.
Like I just never feel like I'm totally like totally, I know how to do that.
You know what I mean.
It's always just a learning growing, exploratory thing and um, i think that's why it's so fun and why i obviously keep like coming back for more, as it just never gets old um, but yeah, i think i definitely found a lot of interesting pieces of myself in this album.
It's the first album that It's really about kind of like joy.
It touches on a lot of joy and like these being in love infatuation feelings.
I think my past two albums are pretty angsty.
And so it was really fun to learn how to write a song about something that wasn't necessarily negative.
And it's hard.
That's a challenge.
I mean going into unapologetic joy without feeling like i've been in experiences like this right yeah, you know.
Or try it, or like wow, am i just?
Am i just ticking the same boxes?
You know what i mean making it personal so that it feels unique to us and we can apply to our life, because it doesn't become ours unless it's yours.
If it's universal, it doesn't belong.
It belongs to everyone.
The second you make it.
Do you know what i mean?
100 100 yeah, it just has to mean something to you.
I mean, It always happens that way.
The songs that I'm like, oh, this is probably going to be like a really big song.
It's like people are like, oh, whatever.
But the song that I'm like, wow, this means so much to me.
People always really resonate with.
So yeah, it's a good rule to remember.
How has the relationship with you and Dan changed on this record, if at all?
Because you've gone back to a familiar friend who was there right at the beginning of your musical journey and you've shared in this experience to some degree and the success together and you obviously have great chemistry, creative chemistry.
But there's always opportunities to try new things, and yet you chose to stay together this time.
What drew you back into the room with him, at a point where, to your own words, just a few minutes ago, you were developing new ways of communicating and finding out what you wanted to say, yet you went back to Dan.
Why was that?
Yeah.
Dan is just such a genius.
I think he's awesome, knows me so well and knows like my type of songwriting and my like artistic inclination.
So I can just bring him a song and he has this innate ability to be like oh, this song is good because of this.
Let's bring this out in the song.
And so I just really value his taste and like personality, producing prowess and ability and um, we're just really close.
It was just really fun making this album.
I think i wanted to make an album where i was like having a lot of fun writing these songs and making these records and so um, i think we accomplished that and yeah we're, we're very close so it's it's a very fun experience doing this video.
Olivia, were you expecting and already for him to slouch on the couch and drop the bomb that you'd made another album?
That's why I sent you the ambient playlist.
I was like, you've got to be stressing right now.
Oh, yeah.
This is crazy.
That's so funny.
Oh my God, I know that picture.
He's hilarious.
He was in a label meeting, fully horizontal in the label meeting.
I'm like, what are we even doing here?
He was distressed.
He had a lot of things to do, but that was so funny.
It's stressful finishing anything, especially when you're putting so much heart and soul into it.
Has it been a hard album to let go of?
Yeah, you know, I actually just finished it.
I finished it maybe a month ago, like not really that long ago.
And so I think I'm still sort of in the process of learning how to let go of it.
Yeah.
Yeah, you never feel like you're done with the record.
I remember turning it and being like, but what if I could add one more song?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That would be amazing.
It's a form of psychosis.
Yeah.
But you could tweet.
I think the... I don't know.
I also have friends who have been like yeah, I made a record and then we tweaked it for a year and then it kind of lost what it was initially about.
You know what I mean.
Some of the magic is the spontaneity.
So I think it's a big, big lesson in art is just like when to take your hands off of the paper.
You know what I mean?
Fans really appreciate the way that you rolled this out, going in and creating an evolving shade on these kind of stable structures and cities and presenting the color scheme.
And it was really interesting.
I was shopping with my wife and there was a whole bunch of kids that were sort of rolling in in a steady stream.
But I was around the corner.
And I was like, what is going on around the corner?
Is there like a pop-up going on around there?
Is there like a food stall?
Is it like, what's going on?
And I go around and it was just your gigantic pink wall.
And it was just this steady stream of fans.
Did you see any – did you drive past any of them and see anybody gathered in front of them?
Did you sneak a look?
I did.
I drove past one of the ones in L.A., and I was, like, so nervous.
I was like, oh, my God.
I, like, wore a hat in the car, and everyone was like, you're fine.
You're in the car.
It's okay.
No, it's been really fun.
I just – it's so –
I just thought pop music should be so fun and it's so awesome to like be able to have the resources to do something so fun like that.
And I don't know.
I think we're on our phones so much and so much of music consumption is like on the internet and on Twitter and whatever, which is gorgeous and wonderful, but there's something so awesome about people coming together.
That's why like, a concert is so special, but even like the wall thing, it's so fun that people can like go with their friends and like make a day of it and just do something that's like actually in the real world.
I just feel like I'm so drawn to those experiences these days and it's like fun to try to create them in my work.
Olivia Rodrigo is back.
It's official.
There's a brand new song.
It's a beautiful, just unashamed, joyous, falling in love pop song.
And the video captures that beautifully as well.
You and your regular creative collaborator coming together in a very unique location.
Who made the call to Versailles? get you to film it to Versailles.
How crazy is that?
I'm still pinching myself that they let us do that.
It was kind of wild.
When I wrote the song, I immediately was like oh, it'd be so cool if you could film it in Versailles.
Because the song to me just feels like running.
Whenever I listen to the song, it just feels like running through a garden.
I bet your label was sitting there going if you could just tweak the lyric to.
You know your picture framed on the wall of the Met or something that's a little more achievable.
Or like the mall or something.
Something slightly more achievable than Versailles.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
God bless my team.
They're amazing.
They pulled it off.
I don't know how, but it was such a spectacular day.
We got to be alone in Versailles for like nine hours.
It kind of felt like night at the museum.
I felt like the paintings were going to come off the walls and start like flying around me.
And yeah, it was really special.
And I think the music video just really captures that kind of joy and fervor and excitement that I get when I listen to the song.
I really want to congratulate you on achieving that on camera as well.
And in your performance you obviously embodied it in a really real way because for people who are listening right around the world and they think music videos you have all the time in the world.
Even if you have a location that isn't highly sought after and very rarely ever gets filmed in, you're still on the clock.
And I can imagine that for you, it's like, okay, we have this space for X amount of time.
We have to leave here with the essence of this song on film.
And you know I wondered if that ever crossed your mind or whether it you know.
Yeah, did I mean.
Was it a different experience moving in that space, knowing that like I've got to get it because we've got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We got eight hours, and what we get is what we get.
Yeah, it's kind of awesome, though.
I think that that's sort of like...
I don't know.
It makes you be spontaneous in a way that I think you like wouldn't otherwise be in the video.
It's supposed to be.
It's not like, choreographed, stand on this mark, do this thing.
It's just sort of about like I wanted to feel, like that feeling when you come home, when you like first kiss someone for the first time and you like close the door, and you're like, oh my God, this is amazing.
Yes.
And so that was sort of the energy that I embodied just running around Versailles, just that first crushy feeling.
Yeah, you captured it, nailed it.
Amazing.
The video has just done it.
Olivia, you know, one of the other things I just want to bring up while we've got a couple of minutes for you and we're welcoming you back, is that you know you honor your newfound friendship and obviously, onstage official collaborative experience with one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
And I love the fact that you referenced Robert Smith in Just Like Heaven and the idea of those lyrics being sort of a pay it forward as a writer and as a human right.
Capturing the experience.
Did you see it in the song?
What did he think?
What's the vibe?
I actually, oh my God, I actually don't know if I played it for him.
You might hear it today.
I played him like four songs in the album.
You're going to get an unexpected cease and desist.
He's going to be like, no, I played him a bunch of other songs in the album.
I don't know why I didn't think to play this one for him.
No, I should.
No, I adore him.
And obviously he's gotten a chance to kind of get to know him a little bit over the past year.
And we sang a Glastonbury, we sang just like having a Glastonbury.
And one of my favorite memories is I wore a t-shirt for the encore that said you know all the words are just like heaven.
Cause I knew that the song was coming out and I wanted to like do a little Easter egg.
And I walked backstage ready to do the quick change.
And I found out that Robert took a Sharpie at the bottom of my shirt and said, or do you?
And then he wrote, or do you?
And I was like, oh my God, like he graffitied on this shirt.
There's a hundred thousand people out there.
Am I going to go out in this shirt that like has this thing on it?
And I was like, kind of freaking out.
And I was like, whatever, I'm just going to put it on.
And honestly, it's like my favorite outfit I've ever worn.
I'm like so happy that he, he wrote in Sharpie on it.
And now it's one of my most prized possessions.
You got to frame that shit, man.
You got to frame that shit.
I will.
I will.
I will.
Yeah.
It's special.
Really appreciate a few minutes of your time.
I know SNL is coming up.
You're hosting for the first time, not just performing, you're doing both double duty.
Yeah, I'm so excited.
It's gonna be amazing, because I think you've been so effective and so successful and you've done such a good job of presenting your authentic musical and creative self that I think many people listening to your music don't realize that obviously you have this history in front of the camera as well and this ability to be able to carry a different timing.
And so how excited are you to be able to go back into that space and to be able to connect the two?
Because they are both parts of your life, even though music obviously is to me at least feels like your heart and soul.
Yeah, for sure.
I'm really excited.
I mean, I grew up acting and like doing that sort of like sitcom comedy world.
But I'm just really honored to be like included and invited.
I'm such a fan of SNL.
I think creatively what they managed to pull off every week is so astounding.
It's incredible.
Yeah, they're just so inspiring.
And so it's just gonna be awesome to even just get a peek behind the curtain of how they do all of that stuff, and I feel like I'll learn a lot.
So I'm excited.
Does it feel...
I mean, obviously it's exciting and you wouldn't put this song out unless you were ready, and you wouldn't have made an album unless you had something to say.
But to me, it feels like you haven't stopped.
You know this is your third album and the last album took you all around the world and, I'm sure, ticked so many incredible boxes for you.
I mean headlining the Pyramids stage at Glastonbury and becoming a bonafide festival headliner, and rightfully so.
Just incredible, Olivia, what you've achieved already.
How does your spirit feel going back into a new cycle, into a whole new story that you want to bring to life, which you'll do with such care?
How do you feel about that going forward?
Wow, tugging at my heartstrings.
Yeah, it's scary.
I haven't put out music in a long time and it's a really vulnerable thing to be like.
This is what I've been going through.
This is what I've been thinking about.
It's a very unique experience to be so personal on such a large scale.
But I love it.
I think it's the reason why I love writing songs so much is because I get to process that for myself and therefore maybe help other people kind of process it and feel it.
But it's nerve-wracking.
I'd be lying if I said it was... wow, this feels totally normal and like intuitive.
But yeah, it's part of the fun.
And at the end of the day, it's like you know, music should be fun and beautiful and it should be an experience that brings people joy.
You know, it's like stressing too much about it doesn't really do too much.
