Olivia Rodrigo says hearing Lorde’s ‘Royals’ “changed the trajectory” of her life.
The ‘brutal’ hitmaker, 20, was “blown away” when she heard the 27-year-old New Zealand pop star’s 2013 hit when she was 10 because it was the first time that she heard her life in a song.
During a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Olivia said: “I remember hearing that song on the radio at the time… It was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments where you always remember, a snapshot memory, like, ‘Oh my God, what is this?!’ Changes the trajectory of your life.
“I remember listening to it as I first started writing songs and just being blown away by her lyrics that are just about being a teenager living in the suburbs.
“I just remember never hearing my life be put into a song like that where it just made being young and doing these seemingly unimportant things feel so sacred.”
The pop sensation recently shared how she takes inspiration from “weird” and “embarrassing” moments in her life.
The ‘good 4 u’ singer loved seeing the ‘Priscilla’ film about Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla Presley and enjoys reading Dolly Alderton’s books as she loves the writer’s take on messy romances.
She told Variety when asked if there was any storytelling she had been impressed by recently: “I saw Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I think she’s such an incredible storyteller.
“I’ve got Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’ on my bedside table, and I’ve read ‘Just Kids’ and ‘Woolgathering’.
“I’ve also been reading a lot of Dolly Alderton lately. She wrote one of my favourite books – ‘Everything I Know About Love’.
“My mantra in life, anytime something weird or embarrassing happens to me, is ‘I’m just collecting stories for the memoir. I’m just here to collect fun memories that I can talk and write about later.’
Olivia also said in the chat she is trying to write a song every day to keep her mental health in check.
She added: “These days, I try to write one song every day. I just feel like myself when I’m writing.
“If I don’t do it, I get depressed. I’m just writing songs to process what’s going on, whether in my personal life or in my perception of the world.”
The Grammy winner – who also cites the likes of Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette as influences – added about the writing process for her second album ‘GUTS’: “The experience tested my confidence and patience. It taught me some important lessons about songwriting in terms of focusing on your craft rather than just waiting for inspiration to strike.
“It taught me about the mindset that is most conducive to writing: You can never sit down at the piano and try to write something that everyone will like; that always results in a really bad song.
“It taught me that I write songs that I want to hear.”