Olivia Rodrigo takes inspiration from “weird” and “embarrassing” moments in her life.
The 20-year-old ‘Good 4 U’ singer – who has most recently been linked to actor Louis Partridge, 20, and whose exes reportedly include music executive Zack Bia, 26 – added she loved seeing the ‘Priscilla’ film and enjoys reading Dolly Alderton’s books as she loves the writer’s take on messy romances.
She told Variety when asked if there was any storytelling she had been impressed by recently: “I saw Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I think she’s such an incredible storyteller.
“I’ve got Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’ on my bedside table, and I’ve read ‘Just Kids’ and ‘Woolgathering’.
“I’ve also been reading a lot of Dolly Alderton lately. She wrote one of my favourite books – ‘Everything I Know About Love’.
“My mantra in life, anytime something weird or embarrassing happens to me, is ‘I’m just collecting stories for the memoir. I’m just here to collect fun memories that I can talk and write about later.’
Olivia also said in the chat she is trying to write a song every day to keep her mental health in check.
She added: “These days, I try to write one song every day. I just feel like myself when I’m writing.
“If I don’t do it, I get depressed. I’m just writing songs to process what’s going on, whether in my personal life or in my perception of the world.”
Olivia added about the writing process for her second album ‘GUTS’: “The experience tested my confidence and patience. It taught me some important lessons about songwriting in terms of focusing on your craft rather than just waiting for inspiration to strike.
“It taught me about the mindset that is most conducive to writing: You can never sit down at the piano and try to write something that everyone will like; that always results in a really bad song.
“It taught me that I write songs that I want to hear.”
