{"id":392677,"date":"2026-07-30T22:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/392677\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:50:13","slug":"olivia-rodrigos-self-possessed-pop-rock-fuels-lively-austin-city-limits-appearance-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/392677\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s Self-Possessed Pop-Rock Fuels Lively Austin City Limits Appearance\u00a0 \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the internet, rock purists and Nineties nostalgists debate the merits \u2013 the work, the authenticity, the knowledge \u2013 of Olivia Rodrigo. Why is she wearing babydoll dresses<\/a>? Does she really like the Breeders<\/a>? How\u2019d she get Robert Smith<\/a> to sing on her album?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the real world, 64,000 people entered the lottery to attend the 23-year-old\u2019s July 29 Austin City Limits taping. Only 2,000 won tickets to the performance, which premieres on PBS Oct. 9. Despite healthy skepticism of a Disney-launched pop star toying with the counterculture, Rodrigo proved at the taping that the reason for her demand is, really, quite simple: The children yearn for pop-rock \u2013 the Breakaway-era Kelly Clarkson belters, the edgy early singles by fellow former child stars Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato \u2013 and multi-faceted women role models, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rodrigo\u2019s 12-piece band, composed entirely of women and nonbinary musicians, drummed up a brief racket, ominous yet controlled, before kicking into \u201cmy way,\u201d a sneering kiss-off from new LP you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. Though the June release largely expands the songwriter\u2019s Aughts emo and Nineties grunge palette into Eighties New Wave terrain, the set\u2019s opening track bridged the eras, Elise Solberg\u2019s ambulance siren synths evoking the same brattiness as, say, 2021\u2019s \u201cMisery Business\u201d-interpolating hit \u201cgood 4 u.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s chamber pop lead single \u201cdrop dead\u201d then gave way to \u201cu + me = <3,\u201d a jangly, head-over-heels snapshot of early-relationship giddiness that sounds more like the Cure (albeit at their Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me sweetest) than you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love song \u201cthe cure,\u201d or even \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with me,\u201d which features Smith himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, Rodrigo balanced these jovial numbers with plenty of slowed-down confessionals; before there was \u201cgood 4 u,\u201d in case you forgot, there was \u201cdrivers license.\u201d The taping brought forth the live debut of \u201cstupid song,\u201d a track the artist said was about \u201closing touch with reality\u201d when lovestruck, and \u201choneybee,\u201d a dramatic showcase of plucked violins, acoustic guitar, and Rodrigo\u2019s piano skills. Alongside these new numbers, the singer dug back into her catalog to hit her most emotional peaks: that Grammy-winning song about learning how to drive as well as \u201cvampire,\u201d the massive-but-maudlin lead from 2023\u2019s GUTS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Scott Newton courtesy Austin City Limits<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always preferred a banger to a ballad, however, which made \u201cbad idea right?\u201d a particular thrill. She may have enlisted three dedicated backup singers \u2013 guitarists Daisy Spencer and Arianna Powell also had mics of their own \u2013 to round out her vocals, but as Moa Munoz\u2019s bass thrummed, Rodrigo\u2019s smirking excuses for her narrator\u2019s breakup slip-up (\u201cjust tripped and fell into his bed\u201d) shot a sense of suggestiveness into her otherwise polished persona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Toward the end of her 16-song set, the artist introduced \u201cthe cure\u201d as her favorite song from you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, and maybe her favorite song from her entire discography. It expresses something, she said, that she\u2019s been trying to convey in her music for a long time: No matter how badly we all want it, romantic love won\u2019t fix us, or save us from our worst impulses. Like all Rodrigo compositions, the song swelled into a sweeping chorus. But in its first minute, as guitarist Powell repeated the same two tortured minor chords, \u201cthe cure\u201d felt like the kind of melancholy indie rock demo you\u2019d hear at 2am on college radio \u2013 and a compelling preview of what the young songwriter\u2019s discography could develop into, should she follow its sonic threads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following a climactic run through you seem pretty sad\u2026 closer \u201ccigarette smoke,\u201d Rodrigo wrapped with two songs she assured us were \u201cmuch less of a bummer.\u201d \u201cexpectations,\u201d the best of the artist\u2019s Eighties experimentation, buzzed and bounded with a buoyant synth line, snappy percussion, and the singer\u2019s hopeful single-girl affirmations that she\u2019d soon grow to become secure and evolved. Nodding to Gwen Stefani\u2019s storied onstage \u201cJust a Girl\u201d crowdwork<\/a>, she invited the girlies in the audience repeat her mantra \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ve got big expectations\u201d \u2013 before tapping the fellas to tweak the same refrain, recreating the track\u2019s \u201cMaterial Girl\u201d-esque backing baritone with a \u201cShe\u2019s got big expectations.\u201d Spirits high, Rodrigo led her adoring audience through a call-and-response run of early hit \u201cdeja vu,\u201d wrapping the taping with electropop shimmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m befuddled by doubts that Rodrigo is inspired by artists like Bikini Kill or the Breeders. Her upcoming Daisy Chain Fields festival<\/a>, an all-women, all nonprofit-benefitting one-day affair, proves her interest in such culture-shifting, activist-minded music, even if her own output is glossier. Though more about relationships than revolution, she delivers her songs live with a grimace and an eye roll; love, she understands, is embarrassing yet all-encompassing, and oftentimes our first lesson in broader disaffection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take it from me if you won\u2019t take it from her: Sometimes you gotta listen to \u201cSince U Been Gone\u201d before you can understand \u201cAsking For It.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Scott Newton courtesy Austin City Limits<\/p>\n

Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s Austin City Limits appearance premieres Oct. 9 on PBS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nOlivia Rodrigo<\/p>\n

ACL Live at the Moody Theater<\/p>\n

July 29\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the internet, rock purists and Nineties nostalgists debate the merits \u2013 the work, the authenticity, the knowledge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,6410,134,133,1551,124327],"class_list":["post-392677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-city-limits","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-feature","tag-olivia-rodrigo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}