Olivia Rodrigo is pop star royalty, thanks to her hit song, “driver’s license” from her debut album, Sour, released in May 2021. The song is her heartbreak ballad to her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett who later moved on and had a relationship with Sabrina Carpenter. Their love triangle was messy and if you need an explainer, we’ve got one.  

Drama or no drama, there’s no denying Rodrigo’s songwriting talent. She was once poised to be Taylor Swift’s protégé until that fell apart because of royalty issues. Fortunately, her experience with the music industry did not discourage Rodrigo from songwriting. She released her sophomore album, Guts, in September 2023.  

Olivia Rodrigo’s Accolades  

There’s been no stopping Rodrigo ever since she became a household name in 2021. She was Time Magazine’s 2021 Entertainer of the Year and Billboard’s 2022 Woman of the Year. Her songwriting skills were also recognized by the ASCAP Pop Music Awards, which bestowed upon her the Songwriter of the Year award in 2022 and 2024 (with her frequent collaborator, Dan Nigro).  

“driver’s license” is a 4x multi-platinum single by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She also won the American Music Award’s 2021 New Artist of the Year.  

What’s Next for Her?  

Rodrigo recently concluded her Guts World Tour, which ran from February to October 2024 in North America, the UK, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She also performed with No Doubt during the band’s Coachella performance in April 2024.  

She is set to headline the 2025 BST Hyde Park Show in the UK on June 27, 2025. It will be her largest headlining performance in her career. The Last Dinner Party, a British indie rock band and Girl in Red will also perform with her.  

So, if the only Olivia Rodrigo song that you know is “driver’s license,” check our list below of five of her songs that you should listen to now.  

• “Can’t Catch Me Now”

   In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Rodrigo shared her challenges to write “Can’t Catch Me Now,” for the Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. She said, “It was a really fun challenge for me as a songwriter because lots of my songs are kind of about my personal life.” Rodrigo added, “So it was a wonderful experience to try to write something from the character of Lucy Gray. [She] is a character that I feel very connected to,” referring to one of the movie’s lead characters, played by Rachel Zegler.   The lyrics had several references to the movie, especially the second verse referring to Lucy Gray’s vague fate: “Bet you thought I’d never do it/Thought it’d go over my head/I bet you figured I’d pass with the winter/Be somethin’ easy to forget/Oh, you think I’m gone ’cause I left.”  

• “Traitor”

  From her debut album, Sour, “Traitor” is another song for the brokenhearted. The song talks about feeling betrayed by a past lover who might not have “cheated” but took only “two weeks to go off and date” somebody else. It also talked about seeing them together and how they are showing them off like a “new trophy.”   In an interview with J-14, Rodrigo shared that she wrote the song while crying on her bed. “I never really thought that it was going to be a song that resonated with so many people. I thought that it was a very specific situation that I was going through, and it’s so funny that that’s the non-single song that’s the most successful.” She mentioned that people also come to tell her the same thing happened to them.  

• “Good 4 U”

  Three months after the release of “Good 4 U,” Rodrigo retroactively gave co-writing credits to Hayley Williams and Josh Farro due to the similarity to Paramore’s 2007 “Misery Business.” Rodrigo reportedly lost millions since the pair received 50% of the royalty share.   

  Rodrigo shared her thoughts about the controversy with Teen Vogue. “I think it’s disappointing to see people take things out of context and discredit any young woman’s work. But at the end of the day, I’m just really proud and happy to say that my job is being a songwriter … All music is inspired by each other. Obviously, I write all of my lyrics from my heart and my life first.”  

  The song’s lyrics are NSFW, just click here to listen and watch the video.  

• “Bad Idea Right?”

  “Bad Idea Right?” is for those who, at one point in their lives, have considered going back to their exes even if they know it’s a bad idea (so probably almost everyone who had a relationship with a walking red flag). Rodrigo said in a statement (via Spin) that she and her producer, Dan Nigro, realized they had something for a full song. “’Bad Idea Right?’ started with us making a joke song about me hooking up with an ex-boyfriend, but then we realized we were actually onto something.”   The song’s chorus is what we hear from friends (or what we tell ourselves) when we try to make excuses about an “innocent” catch-up with an ex: “Yes, I know that he’s my ex/But can’t two people reconnect?/I only see him as a friend/The biggest lie I ever said/Oh, yes, I know that he’s my ex/But can’t two people reconnect?/I only see him as a friend/I just tripped and fell into his bed.”   The song’s lyrics are NSFW, just click here to listen and watch the video.  

• “Get Him Back!”

  The lyrics of “Get Him Back!” perfectly conveyed the feeling of still being hung up with an ex. One minute, you want to get back together, and then you remember all the things they did that made you break up with them in the first place. “So I write him all these letters, and I throw them in the trash/’Cause I miss the way he kisses and the way he made me laugh/Yeah, I pour my little heart out, but as I’m hitting ‘send’/I picture all the faces of my disappointed friends/Because everyone knew all of the s— that he’d do.”   The song title is also a stroke of genius because of its double meaning: “get him back” can refer to rekindling the relationship or seeking revenge. 

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