Olivia Rodrigo doesn’t want to fall into the ‘classic Disney pop girl archetype’

Olivia Rodrigo is making sure to keep her music career ‘separate’ from her life as a Disney star.

The Drivers License talent, 18, opened up about her path during a Q&A for Nylon, telling the magazine how she is trying to break from the child star stereotypes. 

‘I’m very aware of that classic “Disney pop girl” archetype,’ she said when asked about how stars like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez‘s music became ‘tethered’ to the family friendly entertainment juggernaut.

‘My music is definitely separate from my acting in a way I always dreamed would happen,’ Olivia went on.

She’s been grateful for how many new fans she’s earned since the song’s release back in January, saying: ‘When Drivers License came out, everyone was like, “I have no idea who this Olivia Rodrigo girl is, but I love this song.”‘

‘That is the absolute dream for me, because I’ve always wanted to be taken seriously as a songwriter.’ 

‘Being an actor can interfere with that, just because being an actor is based on telling lies, and being a songwriter is based on telling the absolute, whole truth,’ she explained.

But Olivia, who rose to fame on the Disney+ favorite High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, said she isn’t trying to reject her roots, only be true to herself.

‘…People always ask me, “Oh, did you say f*** in Drivers License to show that you aren’t just a Disney star?” 

‘It’s cool that people might think that, but I’m just making music that I love and that I feel passionate about,’ she continued. 

‘It’s who I am. I have a dirty mouth. It was what felt natural and good to me, and people resonated with that.

And Rodrigo said that while she’s proud to be influencing artists to be independent, it was never her main goal.’ 

‘If I am ushering in a new generation of pop stars that aren’t afraid to speak their mind, that’s so cool. I’m just doing my thing, though.’

Olivia went on to reflect on the plight of early 2000s pop stars like Britney Spears, who also worked with Disney in her teens.

‘The stuff she went through was so awful, and we’ve come so far,’ Olivia said of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, adding: ‘But we haven’t really come that far, you know what I mean?’

Sour, Rodrigo’s first album, comes out on May 21st.