Olivia Rodrigo is about to release her debut album, and she’s hitting back at some of the criticism young female songwriters in the industry face.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the 19-year-old says she watched it happen with her idol, Taylor Swift, and has now seen firsthand the “sexist criticism of songwriters like me being told that they only write songs about boys.”
“I’m a teenage girl, I write about stuff that I feel really intensely — and I feel heartbreak and longing really intensely — and I think that’s authentic and natural,” Olivia says. “I don’t really understand what people want me to write about; do you want me to write a song about income taxes? How am I going to write an emotional song about that?”
She says he album, Sour, embraces those teenage feelings — and she’s proud of it.
“Something I’m really proud of is that this record talks about emotions that are hard to talk about or aren’t really socially acceptable especially for girls: anger, jealousy, spite, sadness, they’re frowned-upon as b****y and moaning and complaining or whatever,” Olivia says. “But I think they’re such valid emotions.”
Sour comes out May 21.
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