olivia rodrigo
Staff Picks: The Albums and Songs We Loved in 2021
The late, great Lester Bangs once wrote that we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. And he was basically right until Lil Nas X came sliding down the stripper-pole to Hell. Oh, 2021. You rocked us like a damn sociopath. What an insanely exciting, emotional, and reinvigorating year for music. President Biden took office and made Olivia Rodrigo an ambassador. We had Hot Vax Summer and Sad Girl Fall (Taylor’s Version.) Live music came back and Dave Grohl never left. Noobs ruled songwriting. Doja Cat ruled the planet. We brought back the electric guitar (all the rumors are true, baby), 2000s pop-punk, and Adele. We freed Britney. Halsey freed the nipple. And we all somehow found out about a Baltimore rock quintet called Turnstile. It’s all in SPIN‘s lists for Best Songs of...
The 30 Best Songs of 2021
A pair of rappers pulling off the best Tom Tom Club sample since Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (G Perico & Rucci), an iconic New Wave band trafficking in tongue-in-cheek nostalgia (Duran Duran), a blackgaze act embracing their love of vocal harmony (Deafheaven), and psych-rockers using the shopping mall as a metaphor for capitalist greed (My Morning Jacket) — SPIN‘s 30 Best Songs of 2021 offer something for everyone. For our latest year-end track recap, we kept our overall sorting process the same as 2020: For a cut to be eligible, it needed to be one of two things: 1) a stand-alone single released in 2021 or 2) part of an album issued in 2021. 30. Beatrice Deer – “The Storm” The sound is so simple that, at first, it feels almost formless: a primal drum groove, shards of metallic elect...
The 30 Best Albums of 2021
Back in June, SPIN published The 30 Best Albums of 2021 (So Far), rounding up everything from mainstream rock to experimental hip-hop. Six months later, we’re back with our year-end recap — and it’s interesting how, even though the stylistic balance has stayed consistent, the picks themselves haven’t. While this list also covers a lot of ground, only six of those earlier records wound up in our final tally. Below, you’ll find massive R&B collaborations (Silk Sonic), trendy pop breakouts (Olivia Rodrigo), big-ticket indie-rock (The War on Drugs), prog-metal giants (Mastodon), and acclaimed indie-rap (Benny the Butcher & Harry Fraud). Looking back at Pandemic Year Number Two, when the music industry forecast seemed to shift on a daily basis, perhaps these changes are only fittin...
Olivia Rodrigo Announces 2022 Tour
Fresh off her monster breakthrough year, Olivia Rodrigo announced that she’ll be in hitting the road in 2022 in support of Sour. The tour will take place in venues in North America, the UK, and Europe. Rodrigo is set to perform in over 40 major cities, kicking off on April 2 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California. Supporting Rodrigo is Gracie Abrams (April 2-23), Holly Humberstone (April 26-May 25), and Baby Queen (June 11-July 7). The Verified Fan sale is now open through December 7 at 11:59 pm. The public ticket sale begins on December 10. Rodrigo is in the running for the Big Four categories in the upcoming Grammys—and seven total—making her the second youngest artist in history to score nods in the Big Four categories in the same year. Her debut released this ...
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent Are No Longer Grammy Nominated for Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour
When the nominees for the Grammys were announced last month, Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent received nods for Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour. The trio were credited as songwriters on the album. On Sunday, the Recording Academy announced on its website that the trio’s nominations were removed from the Album of the Year category. On the Grammy’s site, the Recording Academy said the following when it comes to changing nominations: Each year, the Recording Academy makes adjustments to the nominations list as-necessary after the list is first published. Common changes are often the result of updated credits and may include spelling corrections, title modifications, and the addition of nominees who were not included in the original submission, among other revisions. This year, for ...
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug. This bit of philosophical wisdom was imparted to me long ago by a guy whose name I don’t remember, nor can I recall the breakup. I suspect that in this case, I was the windshield. Indeed, sometimes a romantic breakup feels like ballast thrown overboard so your ship can sail, baby, sail. And sometimes, breakups pierce the heart and wound the spirit forevermore. This is the stuff of poets and songwriters — the “see ya” and “ciao” and “so long” to lost amours. or maybe the ones you didn’t appreciate until they walked out that door. Now you’re sorry. So classic. Breakup songs have always been about the important things like love won, then love gone. Sometimes breakups are wistful and sometimes they’re full-on insane, and on some occasi...
MTV VMAs 2021: Watch Olivia Rodrigo Perform ‘good 4 u’
Already the winner of the Push Performance, Olivia Rodrigo made her VMAs debut with a performance of “good 4 u.” She entered the stage in grand fashion, coming from the sky before launching into her pop punk-infused song. Watch her entrance below. Rodrigo was accompanied by a slew of backing dancers (all wearing masks) as confetti dropped from the Barclays Center’s ceiling. [embedded content] [embedded content] Earlier this year, we spoke with Rodrigo about her instant success, but all wasn’t well for the emerging star. She was called out by Courtney Love for allegedly ripping off the Live Through This cover on her debut album, Sour. You can read our review of that album here. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a datin...
Alison Wonderland Lights Up Lollapalooza With Unreleased Remix of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 You”
During her larger-than-life headlining performance at Lollapalooza 2021, Alison Wonderland provided one of the festival’s most electrifying moments when she dropped an unreleased remix of Olivia Rodrigo‘s viral hit “good 4 u.” In a clip shared to Wonderland’s socials, fans are able to hear the ferocious rework of the pop-punk crossover smash, which was produced alongside QUIX. Rodrigo’s ubiquitous vocals had the crowd belting along in unison in a surreal moment before the track takes a menacing turn, throwing down a riotous bass drop in double-time. QUIX’s undeniable influence eventually stomps in, rippling through the speakers with a nasty trap section in half-time. No word yet on whether or not the remix is offi...
The Players Behind Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Deja Vu’: See the Full Credits
Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album Sour returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its fifth week on the chart, marking its second total week atop the tally. Meanwhile, the album’s second single, “Deja Vu,” rose from No. 10 to No. 9 on the Hot 100, rising from No. 12 to No. 10 after reaching a high of No. 3 on the chart in early June. Along with “Good 4 U,” “Deja Vu” also hit the top 10 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart this week, raising Rodrigo’s career top 10s on the tally to three — a count that includes her breakthrough smash “Drivers License.” Explore the team of musicians, producers and more behind the track with recording credits provided by Jaxsta below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begin...
Courtney Love Says Olivia Rodrigo Ripped Off Live Through This Album Cover
Yet another controversy has roped in Courtney Love but this time in a small online skirmish over artistic thievery aimed at a photo for ascending pop singer Olivia Rodrigo’s recent livestream of her debut album, Sour. Love accused Rodrigo of ripping off Hole’s 1994 Live Through This album art, without permission or notice, to add insult to injury. At first, it wasn’t that way. On Thursday, Love posted the Rodrigo photo resembling the Hole album on Instagram with a playful jab of a caption: “Spot the difference! #twinning! @oliviarodrigo 😉👸👸” Commenting on it shortly after Love’s post, Rodrigo cleverly responded with “love u and live through this sooooo much,” pretty much conceding to either finding inspiration in it or straight stealing it outright. It’s u...
The 20 Best Rock Songs by Pop Stars
Olivia Rodrigo may be a teenage pop star who works for Disney and first scaled the Hot 100 with a piano-driven ballad, but her second No. 1 of 2021, “Good 4 U,” is a surprisingly feisty pop-punk song. And Sour’s even harder-rocking opener “Brutal” is currently ascending Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. Rock music has been deeply intertwined with American pop ever since early rockers like Little Richard and Bill Haley started scaling the charts. But since the ‘80s, Top 40 radio has largely favored sleeker tracks with synthesizers, drum machines, and influences from genres like dance music, R&B, and hip-hop, with only occasional bursts of electric guitar and live drums. Plenty of rockers have become pop stars, from Pat Benatar to Bruce Springsteen, but there are also pop stars who ...
The 30 Best Songs of 2021 (So Far)
Best Album lists tend to earn all the internet hype — it always feels like a somewhat serious, academic endeavor, adding to the pantheon of OK Computers and To Pimp a Butterflys. But Best Songs lists are weirder, messier, even more challenging on a nuts and bolts level. (When was this song released? When was the album released? Does it need to be singles only?) While LP lists tend to follow the critical consensus, songs lists are harder to predict. And that makes them fun to explore. Below, we gathered our 30 favorite tracks of 2021 so far. (In this case, we decided songs from any 2021 albums were on the table.) And as you’ll notice, we swerved all over the map — from Bieber to Black Country, New Road. Let’s meet back here in six months and see how things shake out. Bachelor – “Anything At...
