Olivia Rodrigo.Photo: Kelia Anne for TIME
Olivia Rodridocan give credit where credit is due — but that doesn’t mean it’s always been easy for the pop star watching others criticize her songwriting process.
Rodrigo, 18, has enjoyed a breakout year in 2021, starting with the January release of her debut single “Drivers License” and ending withseven Grammy nominations, aworld tour announcement, and most recently, being namedTime’s 2021 Entertainer of the Year.
But success hasn’t come without backlash, including two instances in which Rodrigo added additional songwriting credits to tracks featured on her debut albumSourafter fans noticed the similarities they posed to other popular songs.
“It was really frustrating to see people discredit and deny my creativity,” Rodrigo toldTimeof having to revise her credits.
Dan Nigro, her co-writer and producer, had a different take: “It seems like people get funny about things when songs become really popular,” he toldTime.
The “Drivers License” singer added that in her mind, she’s in a lane all her own, and any inspiration she draws from others is not an invitation for comparison.
“Young women are constantly compared to each other,” she said. “I’m the ‘new this’ or ‘this woman meets that woman,’ and that can be reductive. I’m just Olivia. I’m doing my own thing. It’s meaningful when people recognize that.”
In spite of any criticism, Rodrigo told the outlet that for her, channeling her feelings into song is only natural.
“Songwriting is the thing I take most seriously in my life. It’s the most personally gratifying, too,” she said. “At the core of it, all my songs are about me and my experiences and my feelings. It’s an important lesson in controlling your own narrative, too.”
Olivia Rodrigo.Kevin Winter/Getty
“You definitely have to be a businesswoman to be a musician,” she explained. “There’s a path for me to have a stake in the music and art I create, which is only fair.”
Then in April, she’ll kick off a world tour that will stretch through July.
Timeannounced Rodrigo’s Entertainer of the Year win on Thursday, alongside the announcement that Simone Biles was their 2021 Athlete of the Year. The magazine’s Person of the Year will be named Dec. 13, as will their selections for Heroes of the Year.
source: people.com
