Olivia Rodrigo has found a kinship with fellow pop star Katy Perry.
In a new Rolling Stone cover story, the 20-year-old singer discusses her new album, GUTS, which arrived last Friday. Additionally, it sheds light on how Perry has acted as a mentor, giving advice to the young star.
“There’s so much chaos in your head during second-album time,” Perry tells Rolling Stone. “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… It’s a mental jungle out there.”
Perry offered Rodrigo her service as mentor, having previously gone through a similar experience when she broke out in 2008 with her album, One of the Boys.
“The first time I met her,” Perry says, “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.”
One artist Rodrigo hasn’t been leaning on for advice, however, is Taylor Swift, who oddly enough, was once considered the rival of Perry.
While Rodrigo has previously heralded Swift as her hero, reports lately have suggested there is some “bad blood” between the two, and Swift has become more of an “anti-hero.”
After Rodrigo was forced to give Swift and producer Jack Antonoff songwriting credits on two songs from her debut album, Sour, assumptions were made that all was not well between the two parties. Rumours swirled that Rodrigo wrote the new song “vampire” about Swift, however, Rodrigo tells Rolling Stone that she is currently living a beef-less life.
“I don’t have beef with anyone,” she tells the magazine. “I’m very chill. I keep to myself. I have my four friends and my mom, and that’s really the only people I talk to, ever. There’s nothing to say. There’s so many Twitter conspiracy theories. I only look at alien-conspiracy theories.”