Olivia Rodrigo has shared her 18 favourite songs to mark her 18th birthday.
The chart-topping singer turned 18 on Saturday (February 20) and said in a YouTube video the 18 songs on her playlist had “shaped me into the woman and songwriter I am today”.
On her list were classic tracks by the likes of Carole King, Pat Benatar, Bob Dylan and Smashing Pumpkins. Rodrigo also shared stories behind each song and their impact on her. Speaking about Black Sabbath’s Iron Man’, she said: “I don’t know why but, when I was 13 years old, I would play this song four times when I woke up in the morning and four times before I went to bed because I was so, so obsessed with this song.”
Picking Lorde’s ‘A World Alone’, she called it the first song she remembered seeing herself in. “I was like, ‘I relate, I can picture myself in the situations that Lorde is talking about and I feel seen by what she’s saying,’” she said.
Rodrigo also picked three songs by Taylor Swift, including ‘Picture To Burn’, ‘Out Of The Woods’ and ‘Betty’. Of the former, she explained: “I’m the biggest Swiftie ever and I never stop talking about it. ‘Picture To Burn’ was my first favourite song. I was super young when it came out and I remember I wasn’t allowed to say stupid old pick up truck cos I thought stupid was a bad word.”
She added that ‘Betty’, which features on Swift’s 2020 album ‘Folklore’, had “completely changed my life”. “Just the way that she made this storyline out of a couple songs on the album, she just created this world,” she said. “It was sort of like ‘Folklore’ as a movie and she created these characters and there’s this whole intricate story in these songs. I was fascinated by how she did that.”
Watch Rodrigo’s video above to hear Olivia talk about why she loves each of her 18 favourite songs, listed below.
- Taylor Swift – ‘Picture To Burn’
- Lorde – ‘A World Alone’
- Carole King – ‘It’s too Late’
- The Killers – ‘Somebody Told Me’
- Black Sabbath – ‘Iron Man’
- No Doubt – ‘Bathwater’
- Pat Benatar – ‘You Better Run’
- The White Stripes – ‘Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Don’t Think Twice’
- Kacey Musgraves – ‘Merry Go Round’
- Fiona Apple – ‘Sullen Girl’
- Phoebe Bridgers – ‘Funeral’
- Taylor Swift – ‘Out Of The Woods’
- Billie Eilish – ‘My Boy’
- Halsey – ‘You Should Be Sad’
- Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Disarm’
- Gracie Abrams – ‘I Miss You, I’m Sorry’
- Taylor Swift – ‘Betty’
Meanwhile, the US singer’s single ‘Driver’s License’ is still at the top of the Official UK Singles Chart, having now spent six weeks at the summit.
Earlier this month, a parody of the hit song went viral on TikTok, with one user retelling the track’s story from the perspective of the driver behind Rodrigo.
READ MORE: A License For Success – How Olivia Rodrigo’s candour made her a record-breaking fan favourite
