Contemporary from large headline slots at Glastonbury and London’s Hyde Park, we head to Denmark’s Roskilde Competition to see one of many largest artists on this planet unleash her rock facet and meet the neighborhood of followers she has introduced alongside for the trip.
Again in 2021, the quintessential teenage dream turned bitter. Armed with a jerrycan of gasoline and a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile, Olivia Rodrigo would burn her demure girl-next-door persona to the bottom – and rework right into a multifaceted younger lady able to unleashing anger, heartbreak and fury with a chew of eye-rolling angle and pop-rock riffs.
Whereas Rodrigo’s tender, chart-topping energy ballads could have attracted the plenty, ‘Good 4 U’ defied any expectations that youngsters ought to be ‘seen and never heard’ – and it did so with the assistance of Rodrigo’s most aggressive output thus far. However this tease of a heavier sound was simply the tip of the iceberg.
Whereas 2021’s ‘Bitter’ loosely dabbled with various textures (the opposite main instance being the grunge-heavy opener, the Veruca Salt-esque ‘Brutal’), Rodrigo’s 2023 sophomore document ‘Guts’ would lastly see her embracing her inside rockstar, balancing ultra-clean ballads along with her new love of bruising riffs and scrappy, chaotic manufacturing.
Over the previous few weeks, Rodrigo has been proving herself on a world stage. Her ‘Guts’ world tour amped up the rocky edge for her stay present, Rodrigo routinely collapsing to her knees to carry out bursts of high-calibre punk rock riffage on her electrical guitar. The largest names in alt are additionally glad reward Rodrigo for the versatile, proficient artist that she is. From Avril Lavigne thanking Rodrigo for reviving rock ‘n’ roll, to Jack White calling her a “very cool, very actual lover of music” and “proficient musician”. Just some weeks in the past, The Treatment’s Robert Smith even emerged throughout her Glastonbury set to carry out ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Simply Like Heaven’ along with her – in addition to doing photographs along with her backstage beforehand.
Tonight, she’s set to headline a very sold-out Roskilde Competition – and the followers have turned out en masse. From the second you step foot onto the Danish competition grounds, small teams of ‘Livies’ may be noticed in every single place. A younger woman skips alongside in a purple tutu and butterfly headbands, dragging her mum or dad behind her. A bunch of youngsters readjust one another’s tiaras and straighten each other’s ‘Obsessed’ sashes. Volunteers on the bar babble on about how they will’t wait to go off tonight to catch the set as they sloppily hand you a beer.
Whereas some followers initially obtained into Rodrigo’s extra poppy tunes, they’re now embracing her rockier edge. “I actually solely volunteered this yr to see Olivia,” one rubbish-picking competition employee explains. “I like all of the pop ladies like Charli XCX and Tyla, however Olivia is my favorite. She’s in all probability essentially the most rock artist I take pleasure in, however I like her a lot.”
The sentiment is shared by one other native Danish fan, who proudly reveals off an Olivia Rodrigo crop prime and matching tote bag. “’Good 4 U’ was my favorite music off ‘Bitter’ so I used to be SO excited once I heard ‘Guts’ for the primary time,” they grin. “I used to be so glad she had made extra music that seemed like that.”
“So many different followers on-line, and clearly Olivia herself, have since beneficial me tons of bands I now love,” the fan continues eagerly. “Like Paramore – I hadn’t recognized a lot about them earlier than. But additionally Gap, and No Doubt as effectively… It’s so cool that Olivia helps followers discover all these new artists. It’s like studying concerning the historical past of feminine rock music and rockstars, once you may not have recognized about it earlier than.”
It’s one thing that harks again to Jack White’s emotions about Rodrigo. Her love of music is tangible and he or she’s by no means quiet about her inspirations, commonly masking most of the artists who encourage her onstage with that complexity and depth of her musical intelligence coming by on her newest tracks.
“I sort of didn’t care about her till my girlfriend confirmed me ‘Dangerous Concept Proper?’” feedback one lad, stood subsequent to his girlfriend in Rodrigo’s signature shade of purple. “I favored the rock sound immediately, it felt so cool, so completely different… however the lyrics actually made me adore it. It was so humorous to us, as a result of it’s how we obtained again collectively; we each stored it a secret from pals, as a result of they didn’t suppose we should always date once more. It simply made me actually like Olivia, as a result of it felt like somebody joking a few mistake with out attempting to cover behind something.”
Ultimately, because the night time begins to roll in, the girl of the hour lastly emerges. Decked out in a studded purple leather-based halterneck, matching hotpants, and knee-high boots, she’s the imaginative and prescient of a swaggering Gen Z Rockstar. As she riffs alongside along with her guitarist Emily Rosenfield, unleashing a uncooked, chaotic model of ‘Obsessed’, it’s clear Rodrigo is in her aspect. As she loses herself within the noise, she curls right into a backbend, nonetheless taking part in her electrical, a sight few might have predicted again in 2021.
Hovering ahead, the power solely continues to extend. ‘Love Is Embarrassing’ already has that new-wave of punk-rock really feel, but the stay setting really units the punk edge ablaze as Rodrigo rambles by the lyrical craving and self-deprecation. Even older cuts like ‘Deja Vu’ really feel amplified and hit tougher with the kick of the stay band. And all of it by some means makes these anthems of insecurity really feel effortlessly cool – it’s virtually unimaginable to check this woman, this firecracker of allure and catchy hooks, might ever doubt herself.
As she rolls into the ultimate leg, ‘All-American Bitch’ sees Rodrigo inviting the group to let all their anger out. It’s a facet of the music metalheads and rock gatekeepers have been eager to chastise when ‘Guts’ first dropped – by some means mistaking this innocent show of teenage frustration as an try at gutturals, presumably. However, on this second, everyone seems to be eager to understand the chance to simply let unfastened.
“Consider one thing that makes you so indignant… and SCREAM!!” she howls, earlier than the sector erupts into a protracted wail of angst. After, everybody sighs in reduction – and Rodrigo beams with satisfaction, earlier than sprinting her away throughout the stage as soon as once more, an over-energised bunny operating on pure adrenaline and completely thriving off of it.
In a number of days, Rodrigo will landing in Belgium to carry out at Rock Werchter competition. If the identify of competition doesn’t give it away, it’s an indication of Rodrigo being accepted into the ranks of the rock world – and, if tonight has proved something, it’s that she’s effectively and really on her solution to being a definitive rockstar of the subsequent era.
