Pop

As she hits the promotional circuit for her latest album, Olivia Rodrigo has been spilling all of her Guts. In a new interview with Rolling Stone published Tuesday (Sept. 12), the “Drivers License” singer revealed which pop star offered to be be her mentor as she continues to navigate the music industry as one of its biggest and brightest young stars.

The singer in question? None other than Billboard chart-topping artist Katy Perry. “The first time I met her,” Perry said, “I put my hands on her shoulders and was like, ‘Listen, I’m here. Whatever you need.’ Because I know exactly what these pop girlies are going through, and when I was growing up, no one really did that for me.”

Similar to Rodrigo, Perry had a breakout debut album — One of the Boys reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top five hits “I Kissed A Girl” (No. 1) and “Hot N Cold” (No. 3) — that demanded an equally successful follow-up. One of the Boys served as Perry’s first album under the Katy Perry moniker. According to the American Idol judge, all of these expectations exist under a very different set of circumstances compared to those surrounding the creation of the first album.

“You have your whole life to make your first record, and then maybe two years to make your second — while going through a real psychological change as well,” said Perry, who faced similar pressures around the time of 2010’s Teenage Dream, which Rodrigo names as one of her favorite sophomore albums. “Like, ‘Oh, my God, I can buy my mom a car,’ and, ‘Oh, my God, I don’t have to have the stress from my past.’ But it’s a mental jungle out there.”

In 2010, Perry released Teenage Dream, her Grammy-nominated sophomore studio album, which spawned five Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles: “Firework,” “California Gurls” (with Snoop Dogg), “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “E.T.” (with Kanye West) and the title track. Two years later, Perry re-released the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, earning an additional Hot 100 chart-topper with “Part of Me.” Perry has sent three total titles to the top of the Billboard 200 and earned nine career chart-toppers on the Hot 100, including “Roar” and “Dark Horse” (with Juicy J).

Rodrigo is already off to a good start with her sophmore era. While Guts will debut on next week’s Billboard 200, the album has already yielded a pair of Hot 100 top 10 hits: “Vampire” (No. 1) and “Bad Idea Right?” (No. 10). Guts serves as the follow-up to Rodrigo’s Grammy-winning debut studio album, Sour, which spawned the Hot 100 hit singles “Drivers License” (No. 1), “Good 4 U” (No. 1), “Deja Vu” (No. 3) and “Traitor” (No. 9).

On Tuesday night (Sep. 12), Rodrigo will perform at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. This year, the “Traitor” singer boasts six nominations, including video of the year, song of the year and best pop (all for “Vampire”). In 2021, she won three Moonpeople, including best new artist and song of the year (“Drivers License”).

JoJo Siwa knows exactly what it feels like to be a grade schooler in the crosshairs of the internet. Which is why it makes perfect sense that the 20-year-old former Dance Moms star, singer, actress and YouTube influencer is coming to the defense of 10-year-old YouTube star Everleigh Rose amid criticism of the latter’s viral hit “Like Taylor Swift.”

“Saying all of this with love,” JoJo wrote in a TikTok uploaded on Sept. 8 with the on-screen caption “to anyone who has said anything negative about this song… you need to calm down.” Siwa continued, “As the now 20 year old who once was the 10 year old growing up infront of the internet, I wanna say to anyone thats been saying negative things about this song or everleigh herself, lose your ego and grow up.”

The peppy pop song listing all the qualities Rose admires about the pop megastar was uploaded on Sept. 4, and since then has spawned its own sprawling Reddit thread. The majority of the arrows are aimed at the singer’s parents, YouTube influencers Cole and Savannah LaBrant, for what users claim is their “exploitation” of their daughter.

“It’s not her fault but the song is really bad cause of the auto tune and the lyrics. they could of done something so much better for her,” read one comment, while another wrote, “All of the blame should 100% be on Savannah and Cole Labrant. This poor child is EXHAUSTED you can tell.” Others took aim at the appropriateness of a girl Everleigh’s age referencing the grown-up lyrics and subjects of Swift’s songs.

“I cringed from begging to end, but ‘like a dear John’ ARE YOU SERIOUS? A 10 yo referencing a song where a 19 yo girl got played and taken advantage of by an older guy.. yeah, hella appropriate. Wtf is this?” read a Reddit comment about the lyrics to that track that has drawn comparisons to Rebecca Black’s divisive 2011 hit “Friday.”

“Mу hair іs blоwing through thе wind/ Taylor Swift on the radio all weekend,” Everleigh sings on the chorus of the country pop tune whose video finds Rose delivering Chik-Fil-A to her pals and posing on the hood of a pink Bronco while two other girls wave their arms from the front seat. “Ѕwеet teа, sixteen, on my trampоlіnе, yeah.” The bridge then goes on to name-check some of Swift’s biggest songs: “Every single dау all I wanna do iѕ this/ And dо іt like Taylor Swift,” Everleigh sings. “Like a love story/ Like а dеar Јohn/ Like a bad bloоd/ Аnd kind of like our song/ Like I knew you were trоuble/ You bеlong with me/ Are you ready for it?/ Are уоu 22?/ Mаdе you shake it off/ Or look at what yоu made me do/ Nevеr grow up/ Never fіnd а lover/ Sparkѕ fly, fifteеn/ Can I get a cruel summer?”

Siwa, who lip synchs along to Everleigh’s song in her TikTok, added, “First, this song is adorable (and insanely catchy). And second… Bullying isnt cool, it’s not funny, and it’s not trendy, ever… especially when it’s directed at a 10 year old and her first song by people much older than her. Some even adults. If you’ve posted something knocking this, you should be embarrassed.”

According to E! News, Siwa has previously appeared in LaBrant Family videos and posed with Everleigh on the red carpet at the Industry Dance Awards last year. “I also without a doubt can say that Everleigh is one of the kindest and hardest working kids I’ve had to joy of getting to be around and she absolutely deserves all the love an success she has,” Siwa wrote.

Watch the “Like Taylor Swift” video and Siwa’s TikTok below.