Olivia Rodrigo Reveals Dating Mistakes, Her Musical Mentors

Olivia Rodrigo opened up in a New York Times interview about how her romantic relationships inspired her upcoming album, GUTS. “I had such a desire to live and experience things and make mistakes and grow after SOUR came out, I kind of felt this pressure to be this girl that I thought everyone expected me to be,” she said. “And I think because of that pressure, maybe I did things that maybe I shouldn’t have — dated people that I shouldn’t have.”

Rodrigo also revealed that she turned to mentors like Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), St. Vincent, and particularly Jack White. “He wrote me this letter the first time I met him that said, ‘Your only job is to write music that you would want to hear on the radio,’” she said. “I mean, writing songs that you would like to hear on the radio is in fact very hard.”

Rodrigo also said she and St. Vincent attended a Tori Amos concert in July but hasn’t caught her friend Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. “I haven’t yet,” she told the NYT when asked, explaining that “she’d been busy.”