Light???
On Thursday, the New York Times went to task to make a case for 3 things, GEN Z, the music industry, and Olivia Rodrigo, who’s releasing her sophomore album, “GUTS” on September 8, a follow-up to “Sour” that continues addressing the perils of being a teenage girl and dealing with heartbreak, but with more punk rock sound to it, highly praised by NYT, music lovers, and fans alike, there’s one matter that needs to be answered, Olivia being that Ray of hope that sheds new light on an industry that some say has seen its day, and only Taylor Swift matters thanks to her organic revolution to be what the music industry needs to be.
Admittedly, DANIEL PLUS LAUREN’s Daniel Quintanilla, comments vividly in this NYT article about the pluses and minuses of the portrait that is Olivia Rodrigo, not only to be cathartic, but to somehow help steer the ship in a direction that we can all live with, without it being insufferable or hurting our palate.
The best antidote that Olivia Rodrigo can take to steer the ship not only for her long term benefit, but for the music industry in general, is to elevate how you market yourself, don’t just rely on your TikTok audience which you started and inherited yourself at, but take all the incredible potential you have as a singer-songwriter along with your physical beauty and turn that into a great campaign for your next album, rising above the 90’s trend that’s attached to GEN Z, and doesn’t hurt other demos who apparently don’t take too well to GEN Z declaring their lifestyle obsolete.
Apart of that move into a larger audience is moving on from Geffen, and up to Geffen’s parent company, Interscope, where there tends to be greater focus on artists that market to a large audience; finding another label like Universal Music could be an option, but that bridge of seeking out another label in the future may not be necessary if Interscope proves a worthy move.
Being an AAPI individual is a beautiful ethnicity to be apart of, it comes with a rich culture of beliefs and traditions, but don’t use it as a means to make your case to the listening public, it’s a whole other story for another time; feminine is also a powerful thing to have in your back pocket, along with the LGBTQIA community on your side, but please don’t make doubters of these movements and gender neutral initiatives right when it seems like your intentionally setting it up when comprising your concert tour band which tells the public that your one-sided, and have no regard for other people outside that community.
Another bold move for Olivia Rodrigo outside the music is tapping back into acting, the idea of Olivia playing “Snow White” in the upcoming Disney film is also a good idea since it gives people a change to know Olivia more, and while there’s word of Rachel Zelger not playing the role.
And finally, let’s address that looming threat the music industry has been facing for quite sometime, Taylor Swift, the only viable option for Olivia Rodrigo and her team to do is to take Taylor’s version of promotion, marketing, and songwriting moving forward, it’s the only best way that Olivia and the music industry stand a fighting chance to hold your own outside Taylor’s universe, opening up the door to praise her way of doing business if not verbally, but in the work itself, and paying homage to Taylor Swift by attending the ERAS tour despite any potential hardship, doesn’t hurt either.