The people’s popstar: Olivia Rodrigo electrifies Hyde Park.
Hyde park just before dusk, purple cowboy hats, doc martens, silver eyeshadow: this week 22 year old Olivia Rodrigo headlined BST Hyde Park, acting as a sort of little British pregame to her Glastonbury headline slot later in the week. American sweetheart takes over the UK, a tale as old as time, and one Olivia has successfully played out. She brought out Ed Sheeran to sing ‘The A Team’, paid homage to ‘those little sweets you get in M&S’, and shouted out Louis Partridge before singing ‘so american’. Overall, a triumph.
Photos by @sophiajcarey
The set was electric and had this sense of being constantly in-motion, with the acts bouncing between girlish pop-rock anthems, think ‘obsessed’, ‘brutal’, ‘good 4 u’, and tear-jerker ballads, like ‘happier’, or the song that started it all, ‘drivers license’. The branding is consistent: her outfits are inspired and unique, following the colour scheme of purple and red, and always incorporating edge into her style. Rodrigo wore a baby tee with the slogan 'Visit your town like a tourist', a light-hearted nod to her part-time living in London, and her anglophile status.
Olivia’s vocals are incredible live, she has some impressive vocal control even when she’s running around the stage and commanding the crowd. Above all else, Rodrigo is excellent at feeling. She is expressive, raw, and emotive throughout her 90 minute set, and does not seem to tire. Her sense of connection to even her oldest songs is palpable and a true testament to her skill as a performer. The younger crowd was satisfied with the pop princess posturing Rodrigo gave them, but equally with the angst and frustration in songs like ‘jealousy, jealousy’, and the heart ache of ‘vampire’.
There were 10 year olds belting to ‘deja vu’ in the way that only children can- with complete commitment to the song, and total lack of self consciousness. The parents in the crowd were surprised at the musicianship of Rodrigo’s band, and Olivia herself, with the dad crowd remarking how impressive some of the guitar solos and music breaks were. There was then the demographic of people around Olivia’s age, who have grown with her over the past few years, and are clearly charmed by her ability to be an ambassador for her generation through her songwriting and humour on stage. Essentially, Olivia Rodrigo has found a way to appease all the eyes on her during this crucial time in her career, and her stage presence is a huge part of that. She was able to get all 65,000 attendees to scream back at her during ‘all american bitch’, producing a blood-curdling cult-like experience for a brief few seconds, and proving a very loud point: Rodrigo has command and power, the people love her and she is undoubtedly here to stay.
It sounds perhaps overzealous to remark on legacy for an artist very much in the beginning of her career, and for somebody so young, but Rodrigo carries herself in the way an icon would. She proves her talent and charisma consistently through the show, but still comes across as a regular, sweet girl that feels like she could be your friend, or that you would stop and compliment on the street. And yet, she is a force to be reckoned with on stage. For all the talk about how normal and relatable she is, she is extraordinary.