Olivia Rodrigo Shares Her First Song Written for Sour, First Time Onstage & More

I mean, the first song that I wrote on piano

was a song called Superman.

I was probably like nine years old.

I don't know why I remember this song,

it's like, stuck with me all these years, but it's like

♪ I don't need so Superman to come and save me ♪

♪ To come and teach me lessons ♪

♪ Cause I'm a human being ♪

♪ And I can clean up my own messes ♪

[laughs]

I was very empowered.

Hey Teen Vogue, I'm Olivia Rodrigo,

and today I'm here to share some of my firsts.

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The first song I wrote for Sour was Happier.

I wrote it in between takes of, like,

a dance number that I was doing on the show.

It was like this super happy dance number,

and I was like, in the corner, like,

♪ I hope you're happy ♪

But yeah, I wrote that when I was like, 16.

Gosh, I was so young when I first started auditioning.

I think it was for like, Parenthood

or something like that.

I just, I don't even remember.

I was probably like six years old.

My first thing that I booked was an Old Navy commercial

and I thought I was so cool

for booking the Old Navy commercial.

I felt so proud of myself.

I probably have gone on 300 auditions or something crazy,

and like went on 150 auditions

before I ever like, got anything.

I don't know, it's a crazy industry.

[laughs]

My first red carpet, I was probably like, 12 or 13 years old

and it was for this like, PS Arts or something like that.

I was so nervous.

I didn't know how to pose, I didn't know what to wear.

Like, did my own hair and makeup

and I was like 12 years old and it looked terrible.

[laughs]

I think sometimes it gets a little daunting

to think that your job description is just like,

digging up stuff that makes you feel pain

and like, giving it to people to criticize.

Um, sometimes I'm definitely scared of that

but I wouldn't have it any other way

and I think that's the beauty of songwriting.

They did an SNL sketch about Driver's License.

Wait, what am I listening to?

[audience laughs]

Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo.

It was on my 18th birthday

and they did this entire sketch about the song,

and I just remember like,

sitting in my living room and being like,

What is going on?

That's so crazy, this can't be real.

The first time, my gosh.

My whole life is embarrassing.

That everything's gonna work out,

and I'd tell her to take more pictures.

I don't know, I just feel like

I don't have a lot of pictures of my youth to look back on.

I was really good about writing in my diaries, though,

and I kept all of them.

They're all in my like, childhood room.

I'd write like every day.

Just like little minutia of what I was doing

as like, a third grader.

So I have those to look back on.

But I don't really have too many pictures.

When I wake up, the first thing I do immediately

is check my phone.

I'll check my text messages,

and if I'm being bad I'll check Instagram

and sometimes scroll on TikTok,

but that can sort of be a long ordeal, so I try not to.

Um, I remember when Driver's License came out,

the first time someone recognized me from that song

was in this like, soda bar.

I was like, in Utah, and they have like, soda bars

where you just like, go and like, get like, craft sodas,

and one of the people that was giving me my soda

recognized me and said that they really liked my song

and I was like,

What?

That's so crazy.

I saw Weezer at the Delmark Fairgrounds.

I was probably like, seven or eight,

and I got like, a pink Weezer t-shirt,

and I still have it to this day.

I wear it to bed all the time.

It was so cool when I met Michelle Obama.

I was like, so starstruck,

and she is so like, tall and beautiful,

and yeah, I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life.

This is a tricky one because

I don't think there was ever a moment where I was like,

This is what I wanna do.

It's just always been something that has been inside of me

and I've kind of never wavered or faltered on that.

One of the singing competitions I won

that had like, this big check,

and it was probably like $150 or something, and I was like,

I am a millionaire, this is incredible!

I don't know, I've just always loved performing for people

and that was a cool moment for me

in my like, nine-year-old life, I suppose.

My first time onstage.

Um, in the lobby of this like, casino,

and they were having a fundraiser or something.

So it was like, this fancy dinner,

and I was five years old in like,

a little black JC Penney dress,

singing songs on my microphone as people like, walked in.

And they were like,

Aww, so cute.

[laughs]

Actually like, a couple days ago

I performed my first set at the iHeart Radio Music Festival

and that was incredible,

and it was just so cool to see people singing along

to these songs that I'd written in my living room.

There's just really no experience more surreal than that.

Mm.

I love taking baths.

There's nothing quite like a hot epsom salt bath,

so I'd say epsom salt.

I don't know.

This is like, kind of like a non-answer,

but I really like, have been trying to reframe

the way I think about disappointment.

They've all like, led me to where I am today,

and I'm really trying to like, trust in the universe

and realize that whatever happens is meant to happen

and no experience is ever wasted.

Oh, my first thought when I woke up today is,

Wow, the Teen Vogue shoot is at 11 and it's really far

and I should leave now and I'm late.

[laughs]

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