Olivia Rodrigo made her Jimmy Kimmel Live! debut on Tuesday with a simmering performance of her latest Sour single “traitor.” The performance marked the singer’s first late-night appearance since she visited The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in February for the debut live performance of “Drivers License.”
Rodrigo also sat down with Kimmel to discuss the whirlwind year she’s experienced since releasing her debut single which has become one of the most outstanding debuts in pop music history as well as her hit-filled debut album Sour.
“I think songwriting is a great medium to express emotions like that that aren’t really fun to talk about. It’s this nice, therapeutic way to talk about feelings that are uncomfortable,” she said of her relationship with songwriting as an art form. “I’ve been writing songs since I could literally talk, my mom has home videos of me making up gibberish songs about going to the grocery store when I was so young. When I was 9 years old, I learned how to play the piano and started writing more proper songs.”
The singer also delved into her experience making a trip to the White House to promote vaccinations as well as her appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians issue with Alanis Morissette.
“I look up to her so much and I just think she’s the coolest person and the most amazing songwriter,” Rodrigo said. “It was such an honor to meet her. She gave me dating advice, too, which I think is so cool. To get dating advice from Alanis Morissette, that’s pretty iconic.”
The 18-year-old singer’s groundbreaking debut year has been an iconic measure of its own. Just this week, the Sour single “good 4 u” surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, joining “Drivers License” to become her second song to reach the feat. The achievement also makes “good 4 u” the fastest solo song by a female artist to reach the milestone.
