Driver License” – the song that is currently causing a storm in the music industry, helped Olivia Rodrigo from a teenage actress become a music phenomenon overnight. However, was the female singer’s first single truly successful due to its own appeal and uniqueness, or was it due to extraneous factors that increased the listener’s attention?

Becoming a “music phenomenon” after just one viral song

A young American actress and singer born in 2003, Olivia Rodrigo has recently become known as a musical phenomenon through the song “Driver License” – a pop ballad that describes a woman’s post-breakup pain. young. Getting a driver’s license and the pain after breaking up with first love are both considered milestones marking a person’s maturity, but bring two completely opposite emotions – happiness and sadness.

“Drvier License” quickly rose to the top position on prestigious music charts in the UK and US, especially this song also reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 consecutive weeks. Besides, this is also the first song to attract 50 million streams since “WAP” (Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion) released last year and broke the record of becoming the song with the highest streams. history on Spotify globally. In addition, “Driver License” also received a lot of sympathy from young girls who listened to the song and created the “phenomenon” of sharing about their broken love on social networking sites such as Facebook and TikTok. , Instagram…

Olivia Rodrigo was known for her roles as Paige Olvera in the series “Bizaardvark” and Nini Salazar-Roberts in Disney’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” series.

The successes that “Driver License” brought helped Olivia be promoted and praised by the media as a musical phenomenon. So what exactly is a musical phenomenon? This is the term for a talented new artist recognized by both audiences and professionals. However, most of the faces that are fondly called phenomena today seem to only entertain the audience and often “bloom early and fade away”.

In just over a week of release, “Driver License” has achieved more than 28 million views and quickly rose on music charts in the UK and US.

Musical phenomena always happen randomly and are affected by many different factors that even the singer himself does not expect. So what made Olivia Rodrigo and her debut single receive so much attention from the public? Immediately after “Driver License” was released, on January 10, singer Taylor Swift showed her love by leaving a comment under Olivia’s post: “I’m really proud of the kid This”. The admiration of a top artist for a rookie like Olivia has contributed to the song’s strong “breakthrough” on social networking sites.

Taylor once gave many compliments to Rodrigo’s cover of “Cruel Summer” (Taylor Swift).

According to foreign newspapers such as Teen Vogue, Billboard and The New York Post; What contributed to the success of “Driver License” was the love story between the three young Disney actors as she shared that the song was inspired by her real life. The public began to doubt that she was talking about her love story with co-star Joshua Bassette in “High School Musical: The Musical – The Series” (2019). The two were said to have been together and broken up; Joshua was later spotted with actress Sabrina Carpenter – who is also one of his co-stars.

Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett

In the lyrics, the singer wrote: “Maybe now you are next to that blonde girl, the one who makes me unable to feel secure. And she is also a lot older than me…” and what a coincidence that Sabrina also has blonde hair and is 4 years older than Olivia.

It can be seen that the success of a song no longer seems to depend on its artistry and charm, but instead on the impact of external factors. Even “Driver License” is not so excellent that it can be called “a strange dish”, or too special in the genre of pop ballad music. Perhaps we need to be more strict with so-called musical phenomena so that the uniqueness of each musical product is always the top priority for artists. Without Taylor Swift and the tangled love story behind “Driver License”, whether this song would be enough to make Olivia a phenomenon or not is still a question mark.

Will Olivia Rodrigo make a breakthrough or just flash and then fade away?

There have been many excellent individuals appearing in the music industry in recent years, some people rose to prominence overnight and then suddenly disappeared, and others gradually rose strongly after that “phenomenal” stepping stone. strong. However, the number of people who can escape that title and become a true artist is counted on the fingers of one hand. Carly Rae Jepsen also became famous after the hit “Call Me Maybe” but also cooled down and did not achieve any memorable achievements after that. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift have emerged as musical phenomena and have always maintained and achieved great success in their careers.

The common characteristic of all successful artists that we see is that they possess a distinct personality and a unique musical mindset. They create for themselves a musical style that is deeply personal and know what their strengths are. Besides, we cannot help but mention that behind talented and famous artists is a professional team that always guides and guides them.

Olivia also participated in composing and performing the song “All I Want” in “High School Musical: The Musical – The Series”

As for Olivia Rodrigo, she truly has her own seriousness and passion for music. The female singer shared: “During the social distancing period, I set a goal for myself to compose every day and after 4 months I finally completed the song.” The female singer’s talent is also highly appreciated when she participated in composing and performing songs in the movie “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”. But perhaps Olivia still hasn’t been able to create a unique and suitable musical style for herself when “Driver License” still hasn’t shown her mark and hasn’t really stood out in today’s music industry. .

“Driver License” will become a stepping stone for her future successes?

At the age of 17, Olivia has achieved successes that few people can reach, her talent is undeniable. But “Driver License” is just the first brick in Olivia’s music career, the female singer’s road ahead is still long and full of challenges. To be able to become a true artist, Rodrigo also needs to prepare himself a solid journey, showing the diversity and depth of his music.