"DRIVERS LICENSE" BLEW UP so quickly it rocketed Olivia Rodrigo out of a starring role in Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and into the rare air of chart-topping singer-songwriter on the first attempt. This doesn't usually happen. Graduating from the junior division takes years of fine-tuning. A No. 1 single eluded Miley Cyrus prior to "Wrecking Ball, Selena Gomez got there a decade into her career with "Lose You to Love Me," and Ariana Grande wouldn't take the crown until "Thank U, Next." The ubiquity of Rodrigo's 2021 debut album, Sour, is a uniquely 2020s phenomenon: a byproduct of the power of social media to spread trends like aerosols and a classic case of music connecting with the public off the strength of its unvarnished emotion. With TikTok as the accelerant, "Drivers License" and "Good 4 U" drifted across demographics, and what hooked people was their agonizing honesty, righteous rage, and convincing delivery. Having grown up on Taylor Swift, Rodrigo used her upper register like a weapon the same way "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" drilled its point into your head. Sour offered massive hooks and dynamic tension-the frustration released in the choruses of "Good" and "Brutal," the patient crescendos and bridges in "License" and "Deja Vu"-that suggested even greater depth on the horizon.
Denne historien er fra September 11 - 24, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra September 11 - 24, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Home Sweet Home?
Meghan Markle pioneers new frontiers of unrelatability.
Going Stealth
Torrey Peters reimagines transness in a new collection.
Toni Morrison's Lost Play
Why did the novelist's only staged drama disappear for so long?
The Resilient Natasha Rothwell
The writer and actor returns to The White Lotus just as the show she created, How to Die Alone, has been canceled.
Maximum Capacity
Ha’s Snack Bar is already too full, but it’s also too good to ignore.
Odd Jobs
Bong Joon Ho sets a bitterly funny take on America in space.
Free Country Sam Adler-Bell
Playing Dead For Democratic leadership, giving up is the strategy.
MOVE FAST AND BREAK LAWS
SHAYNE COPLAN upended political polling on his way to creating the billion-dollar betting platform POLYMARKET. Maybe it's even legal.
COMMISH TISCH TO THE RESCUE
The NYPD's Jessica Tisch has spent her career quietly taking on intractable city problems— but what happens when the biggest problem is the mayor himself?
From Hot to Not
Chefs across the city are toning down the spice levels on their most fiery recipes.
