Olivia Rodrigo Was “Blown Away” by Lorde’s ‘Royals’

Olivia Rodrigo recently revealed a game-changing moment in her life. In a conversation with Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo and Julia Michaels for The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Songwriter Roundtable,’ Rodrigo reminisced about the impactful moment when she first tuned into Lorde’s ‘Royals’ on the radio.

“Picture this,” Rodrigo shared with her fellow musicians, “I’m cruising along, and ‘Royals’ starts playing. It was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments, you know? The kind that sticks with you. Like, ‘Whoa, what’s this magic?’ It’s the kind of thing that steers your life in a whole new direction.”

Getting into the nitty-gritty, Rodrigo delved into why the song struck such a chord with her. “Back when I was just dipping my toes into songwriting, ‘Royals’ hit me like a ton of bricks. Lorde’s lyrics captured the essence of being a teen in the suburbs. It was like she peeked into my life and translated it into song. Suddenly, all those seemingly mundane things we did as young folks felt downright sacred.”

Also Read: Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo Are Among The Artists Shortlisted For Best Original Song

Fast-forward to the present, Rodrigo now adds the ’emo’ vibes in her recent tracks, ‘Lacy’ and ‘All-American B**ch,’ while chatting on the ‘Kelly Clarkson Show.’

Explaining the inspiration behind the heartfelt outro in ‘Lacy,’ where she belts out, “And I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you / Yeah, I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you,” Rodrigo chuckled, “It’s peak emo, right? I blame my USC poetry class for that.

I wrote this poem called ‘Lacy’ for an assignment, loved it, and thought, ‘Hey, why not turn it into a song?'” Laughter ensued and the rest is history.