Olivia Rodrigo has revealed how her best friend's love life inspired a track on her latest album Guts.
The 20-year-old singer said Logical, a ballad about a manipulative lover, was based on a conversation with best friend Madison Hu.
Olivia's lyrics have been praised for their relatable take on dealing with relationships and people often assume they are about her. But she told Radio 1's Live Lounge that Madison was her “muse” for Logical.
The friends met when they starred together in Disney Channel show Bizaardvark. It was later on, when they were talking about one of Madison's relationships during a night out, that she inspired the song.
“She actually said in conversation ‘it's just not logical, it's just not logical',” said Olivia.
“I actually stole her life experience for the song.
“I was like, ‘wow that's interesting, let me write that down'.
“So I owe her a lot.” Olivia told Radio 1's Charlie Hedges that her friends need to “be prepared for a song to be written about you”. But the process is “different every time”, she said. Olivia has previously spoken about how she writes her songs almost exclusively with her creative partner Daniel Nigro which helps keep the songs more personal.
“All the songs that made it on the album feel like things that were really important to my growth and things I thought really helped me get things off my chest,” she said. Guts, Olivia's second album, debuted at number one when it was released.
Whenever she's dropped new music in the past it's sparked speculation about who her lyrics are aimed at. But she told the BBC she thinks too many details can weaken a song's impact.
“You can write about an experience that you feel is really unique to you – and then you put it out and people from all different walks of life are like, ‘I can really relate to this',” she said.
Olivia kicked off Radio 1's Live Lounge Month with a performance of get him back! followed by a cover of Noah Kahan's Stick Season. Noah didn't know Olivia would be covering his song and shared on Instagram that he was “freaking out”.
Her live session was recorded about a month ago in Los Angeles rather than in the BBC studios in London.
— CutC by bbc.com
