Good 4 u! Following the success of her debut album, Olivia Rodrigo scored several awards for the first time at the 2022 Grammys on Sunday, April 3.
“Thank you so much to the Recording Academy. This is my biggest dream come true,” Rodrigo, 19, said during her acceptance speech for Best New Artist while gushing about her record label, loved ones and collaborator Dan Nigro. “This is all because of you. Thank you.”
The Disney+ star also took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance in honor of her hit single “Drivers License”, which she released four months before dropping her debut album, Sour, in May 2021. The album scored her seven nominations at the Grammys including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Music Video. Rodrigo was also nominated for Song of the Year, which went to Silk Sonic for “Leave the Door Open” earlier in the night.
“Woke up this morning to 7 Grammy nominations,” the singer wrote via Instagram in November 2021, shortly after the nominations were announced. “When I was younger, my family lived a few blocks from the Staples Center, where the Grammys took place every year. I would always walk outside the arena and look at the plaques on the ground with all the winners names in wide eyed wonder. I went to the Grammy museum so many of my free weekends bc I was so fascinated by the history of the show and all of the incredible musicians that made it up.”
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star continued: “Many dreams have come true for me this year but this one is probably the most meaningful. thank you to everyone who has believed in me and supported the songs I write. and thank you to @recordingacademy for the recognition. I’m beyond humbled. truly a day I will never forget. so grateful aghhh❤️💜❤️.”
After “Driver’s License” went viral in January 2021, Rodrigo opened up about how the track was inspired by her dating life. “I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” the actress — who was previously linked to her HSMTMTS costar Joshua Bassett — told Billboard in January. “It’s resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”
Ahead of her achievement on Sunday, Rodrigo revised the writing and recording process for Sour in a Disney+ documentary. Late last month, the “Deja Vu” performer addressed the “heartbreak” that played a role in her music.
“I was in the situation where I had to see him — he was with someone else, which was devastating to me. I felt like my world was ending almost every day. Nobody understood how I was feeling or related to it. By writing songs about exactly how I felt I was creating a friend for me,” she explained on March 25.
