{"id":420702,"date":"2026-04-27T22:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/420702\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T22:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:54:08","slug":"meet-the-open-mic-singer-who-opened-olivia-rodrigos-surprise-nyc-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/420702\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Open Mic Singer Who Opened Olivia Rodrigo’s Surprise NYC Set"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLast night, New York musician Industry Monk<\/a> was strumming his guitar on the small stage at Pete\u2019s Candy Store. Performing new music at the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, bar\u2019s long-running open mic is just a typical Sunday night for him and many other patrons. That is, until Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> appeared and performed an acoustic version of her new single<\/a>, \u201cDrop Dead.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the room, it\u2019s kind of jarring,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cThere was a respectful silence \u2026 She was crushing it. [People were] just kind of letting her shred and paying homage to the patron saint of Gen Z angst.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIndustry Monk was seventh in the lineup that night, and he played his track \u201cStayed.\u201d When Rodrigo began her slot, he was putting away his guitar, so didn\u2019t have his eyes on the stage. The Pete\u2019s open mic is strictly for original work, so his ears perked up when Rodrigo sang the first few lyrics, referencing the Cure\u2019s \u201cJust Like Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, I know that song,’\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cThen\u00a0I started listening to the tone of voice. I was like, \u2018It sounds a lot like Olivia.\u2019 So\u00a0I\u00a0shuffled\u00a0back in and put my head in and\u00a0did\u00a0a double-take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Industry Monk<\/p>\n

\n\tPete\u2019s Candy Store, located just a few blocks from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and McCarren Park, is packed every Sunday for its open-mic nights. Industry Monk recalls the room feeling slightly busier than usual, the sign-up list longer than an average night. Still, nothing seemed to give away that Rodrigo was in the crowd, let alone getting ready to sing. \u201cI think her name was on the list, just like anyone else\u2019s,\u201d he says. \u201cBy the time she was onstage, no one really knew what was going on.\u00a0It was a very real-time reaction.\u201d The crowd gave her her flowers, but Industry Monk doesn\u2019t remember seeing her after she capped off her set.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe might have been hanging in the front, but\u00a0yeah, I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have eyes on her afterwards,\u201d he says. After her performance, he posted a video that put all the details together, with Livies and local Brooklynites gathering in the comments section. Playful jokes abounded about Rodrigo\u2019s celebrity: \u201cNice for you to let smaller artists have the stage,\u201d wrote one commenter.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tIndustry Monk hails from Houston and moved to Brooklyn just over a year ago. He spent several years living in Nashville, performing a circuit of open mics in the city. He credits Music City for helping define his songwriting style and finds inspiration in Blonde-era Frank Ocean and mid-2000s Radiohead. If you scroll through his Instagram, he cover songs by Shuggie Otis, Chappell Roan, and more in a crimson-colored, fur-lined space called the Red Womb.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis second album, Monk, dropped last October. \u201cThis feels like my debut album spiritually \u2026 It feels more close to my identity and it was more of a personal project.\u201d He sees the Industry Monk project as ever-growing and developing. His dream is to keep on creating records and connecting with his new community. \u201cI do see it as\u00a0kind of a\u00a0slow-burn project, but I am in it for the long haul and I do love making records and playing it for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tRodrigo\u2019s third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love<\/a>, is out June 12 via Geffen. She worked with her longtime producer\/co-writer Dan Nigro on the record. This weekend, on May 2, she\u2019ll pull double-duty on Saturday Night Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndustry Monk is a big fan of Rodrigo and Nigro. He especially loves her wistful track \u201cPretty Isn\u2019t Pretty\u201d from Guts. And he was happy to see her at one of his favorite open mics. \u201cThe open-mic circuit is a great way\u00a0to meet new people and test some new songs out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n