Olivia Rodrigo’s new album defies expectations, including her audience’s

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Six years ago, while still legally a child, Olivia Rodrigo left her career as a Disney Channel actress with the intent of becoming a pop star. This is a tale as old as time, or at least as venerable as Annette Funicello’s singing career, and the blueprint for success is well understood: sign with a first-rate production team, let them handle pretty much everything but the TikTok videos, while you tour and promote past the point of exhaustion. Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, and a half-dozen other actor-entertainers have followed this recipe with varying degrees of success, producing music that is listenable but not memorable, profitable but not persistent, seductive but not particularly authentic. Think early Monkees, but for today’s short-attention-span audience.

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