If one were to check Olivia Rodrigo’s website, you won’t find much to go through, but the content that she has put up is enough to gauge who the young singing star really is. Rodrigo has not only given a fillip to her music, but on the website, she showcases her music and videos which in a short span of time has made a name in the music industry. Besides this, the 18 year old has even made a line of merchandise up for sale. Her bio states that she has been singing as long she can remember and hit it big just days before the Corona virus pandemic began in 2020.

Olivia Rodrigo is one of the most promising actresses and singers of her generation. While growing up in Murrieta, California, US, Rodrigo’s first love was singing. She began taking singing and acting classes when she was six years old while she was in kindergarten. Her love for performing continued to grow and she soon landed roles in several school plays as well as regional musical theater. 

Rodrigo first appeared onscreen in an Old Navy ad commercial and made her acting debut in 2015 at the age of 11 portraying the lead role of Grace Thomas in direct-to-video (the film is available on Amazon in India) film ‘An American Girl: Grace Stirs up Success’. At the suggestion of her vocal coach, Rodrigo pursued acting, and appeared in productions at her elementary and middle school, experiences that would lead her to seek professional acting jobs in the future.

She took up piano soon after; by age 12, she was playing guitar. Rodrigo was a talent-show regular and her ability to inhabit a song was evident even at a young age. She would belt out the choruses to pop band No Doubt's Bathwater and the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army song, not knowing what they really meant. These were the songs that she’d been introduced to by her mum, a school teacher and alternative rock fan.

Born as Olivia Isabel Rodrigo on 20^th February, 2003, her mother Sophia is American with Irish and German descent and her father Ronald, a therapist is Filipino-American. Rodrigo’s great-grandfather moved from the Philippines to the US as a teenager. It’s no wonder then that even today the rest of her family have grown up with Filipino food and traditions intact. Rodrigo is the only child to her parents.

Rodrigo started acting in theater productions at Lisa J. Mails Elementary School and Dorothy McElhinney Middle School and was waiting for the opportunity to strike to make it on the stage.  Many, who saw her performances, spoke highly of her work and indirectly told her mother that Rodrigo’s talent in acting should be seriously pursued.

Before long, the family was making 90-mile journeys to LA for auditions. In 2016, aged 12, Rodrigo was cast on the Disney Channel series ‘Bizaardvark’, taking the role of Paige Olvera, a teenager who posts funny songs and videos online.

She had to learn guitar for the role, a skill she already knew too well. This role saw her winning the lead role of Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney+ series  for the ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’, a mockumentary-style show that follows the on- and off-stage drama that happens when the student body of East High puts on a production of High School Musical: The Musical. In this production she played a student involved in a school production of the classic 2006 Disney musical.

Noticing her talent in the show, the show's creators discovered Rodrigo was a budding musician; they encouraged her to write her own original songs for the series. One of her songs, a power ballad called All I Want racked up millions of streams and became a minor chart hit. After the show's debut in November 2019, the song entered the U.S. and Canada Hot 100 singles charts in January 2020. But even though she got the widespread publicity, it was a different song that led to her extraordinary solo career when happened all of a sudden.

Rodrigo has been described as a pop, alt rock and teen pop singer, singing bubblegum pop, much like the songs we used to hear from artists such as Britney Spears a few decades ago. Her musical influences are Taylor Swift, Lorde, Cardi B and Gwen Stefani. She claims to be Swift’s biggest fangirl "in the whole world". Anyone here who can claim to be a bigger fan of Swift?

In January 2020, during a break in filming, she hunched over her guitar and wrote a lyric about watching her ex boyfriend moving on in a 56 second song Happier. The lyrics that go "Find someone great but don't find no-one better / I hope you're happy, but don't be happier… “struck a chord everywhere it was heard. She later re - recorded the heart touching song in May this year, the lyrics that immediately choked anyone tuning in.

She posted a clip to Instagram, where it caught the attention of Daniel Nigro, a writer and producer who's previously worked with Lewis Capaldi and Carly Rae Jepsen. Nigro contacted her and arranged to work together. But just as things were materializing and her career could take off, the Corona virus pandemic brought everything to a shuddering halt.

Months later, amid a few safety protocols, Rodrigo and Nigro met up Nigro's home studio and started to bring her song sketches to life.

It was here that the finer points to Rodrigo’s super hit Drivers License was laid down and was complete. Nigro helped arrange the chorus so it appealed to more people. Nigro and Rodrigo also touched up the spine-tingling middle 8 ("red light, stop signs") to set the scene for the final, super chorus. Rodrigo takes songwriting seriously and attention to detail is just incredible. The song made a huge impact. On her knowing that she was putting out a grand song and that it would be a lot more meaningful to her fans, she gave her best shot.

Through Nigro, Rodrigo signed with Interscope and Geffen Records in 2020 and released her debut single Drivers License in January 2021. It reached number one in multiple countries, including the United States. Two more singles Déjà vu and Good 4 U cemented her popularity all over the world and made her a household name, with even India lapping her songs and putting BTS and other bands out of the way for some time. Déjà vu debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to debut their first two releases in the top 10 of the Hot 100, while Good 4 U became her second single to debut at number one on the Hot 100.

Four months later she released her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Sour’ in May, 2021. The album is a very emotive mix of pop, folk, and alternative rock that captured the highs and lows of a young woman expressing who she is and what she wants. The songs hit directly to her young audiences who love her music and videos.

The album was recorded during the COVID 19 Lockdown and was originally planned as an EP, but was made into a full length album following the viral success of Rodrigo's debut single Drivers License. The album has 11 songs including Happier, Jealousy, Jealousy and her hit singles. While the album is produced by Nigro, songwriting credits go to Rodrigo and Nigro on 9 of the tracks with two pieces originally written by Rodrigo.

With the continuing Corona virus pandemic showing no signs of abating, in July 2021, Rodrigo was involved in a White House effort to promote COVID 19 vaccination among young people. She met with the President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and also Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci to discuss ways to overcome this epidemic.

Rodrigo currently resides in Los Angeles with her parents. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, playing piano, hanging out with friends, shopping, reading books and playing board games. She is also pen pals with her great-grandmother in Wisconsin and loves writing handwritten letters about everything that is going on in her life.

Rodrigo is beautiful and draws comments where ever she goes. She is famous for her sassy and attractive personality.

By Verus Ferreira