These past few years many young female stars have been taking over pop culture. From Sabrina Carpenter to SZA, or even to actresses like Sydney Sweeney, many young women have finally started to get the spotlight they deserve and are using their fame for good. Olivia Rodrigo was born on February 20th, 2003 in Murrieta, California. She lived there with her mother and father until she was 18 when she moved to Los Angeles. She debuted her career when she was only 12 years old in an American Girl Doll film. She started to become more popular when she co-starred in the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark which was released in 2016, but still was just known as one of the stereotypical Disney child stars. Her fame truly began when she was cast as Nini in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series where she sang her original song “All I Want”. The song sparked her music career, leading her to become the Olivia Rodrigo we know today, a 3-time Grammy winner and writer of hits like “Driver’s License” and “Vampire”.
Despite being barely 21 years old, Olivia has not failed to make an impact on society. With the release of her new album GUTS, she started her world tour in Palm Springs on February 23rd. From the small arenas and theaters she toured on her last album SOUR, she has now moved on to stadiums and larger arenas like Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. Rodrigo has decided to use the profits from this large world tour to start her charity called Fund 4 Good (a play on words from a single on her first album, “Good 4 u”). The fund is a charity dedicated to supporting all females seeking reproductive healthcare. She has partnered with the National Network of Abortion Funds to ensure that any woman seeking medical care is given it without experiencing any misogyny or racism from the providers. Another large goal of the fund is to prevent gender-based violence overall, not just within health care. It’s not clear exactly how much the fund has raised so far, but with each show donating a portion of the ticket proceeds, and there are 77 shows, there’s no doubt this fund will have an impact on many women in the world.
Disregarding actual charities and donations made by Rodrigo, she has become an inspiration for many teens across the globe. She uses her platform to raise awareness of the unfair beauty standards in the world and reminds young girls that they are beautiful no matter what. Her song “Pretty Isn’t Pretty” focuses on this topic and how no matter how hard girls try, there will always be someone who tears them down for their looks. Her other songs “Jealousy, jealousy” and “Lacy” are also similar to this theme, but are more related to the comparison society makes so often between other girls, though everyone has different things happening in their life and no one can look the same. Olivia Rodrigo has inspired and boosted the confidence of many people in the world, and being so young in her career there is no question that she will continue to do so, and possibly become one of the biggest female stars we live to see.
