and Words
Ooh
Ah
Brown guilty eyes and little white lies, yeah
I played dumb, but I always knew
That you talked to her, maybe did even worse
I kept quiet so I could keep you
And ain’t it funny how you ran to her
The second that we called it quits?
And ain’t it funny how you said you were friends?
Now it sure as hell don’t look like it
Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.
On a lazy Sunday night, I tuned in to an awards show on television. I left the show playing in the background while I typed away at my computer. The chatter continued, which I mostly ignored. Occasionally, they’d pause the award presentations, and a performer came on stage. Honestly, these performances did not linger in my memory beyond their time on stage. The one exception was Olivia Rodrigo.
First, the stage transforms into a field under a clear night sky. She emerges from a mythical doorway that opens from the star-filled sky. She wears a simple white summer dress and carries an acoustic guitar strapped over one shoulder. Next, she starts with the guitar, and her voice follows shortly after. It cuts through the anxious audience’s silence.
Her voice is both strong and feminine. Her words speak of both hurt and betrayal. Honestly, my heart shattered hearing her voice as she wept. She walks barefoot through a makeshift field of wildflowers. And though other musicians are on stage, it feels as if she’s all alone in a vacant field… wallowing in her pain. While I hadn’t heard her name before that night, her performance at the American Music Awards compelled me to search for her music.
I quietly reflect on the person I was at eighteen. I had a natural aptitude for computer programming; it took me mere minutes to understand what took others hours. Still, I honed those skills for years and applied them in ways I had not yet discovered. By the time I graduated and found a job professionally, I had just turned twenty-three. While I showed much promise in both high school and college, becoming a professional programmer at Microsoft was still daunting. I had much more to learn.
I reflect upon Olivia Rodrigo and her performance at the American Music Awards in November 2021. She was eighteen. Reflect upon what you were doing in the winter of your 18th year. Were you on stage performing your hit single on a nationally televised awards show? That’s precisely where she was. I don’t personally know any computer geek that talented. She’s the musical equivalent of LeBron James, who was drafted into the NBA at 18. Yes, she’s that good.
However, I’m not fixating on her age or even her looks. I first noticed her at the American Music Awards. I heard her performance before I saw her face, and it shattered my heart before I discovered her age. That said, there’s a lot of new music and many artists that I’ve yet to hear. Someone else may be just as good and talented.
However, due to her popularity, some entities have used her music in videos without her permission. Did DHS think using a song by the granddaughter of Filipino immigrants may be a bad idea? Especially in a deportation video that literally walks immigrants onto a plane for deportation and instructs them to “LEAVE NOW and self-deport”? Her response?
“Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.”
Let’s put this in perspective. Republican members of Congress do not dare contradict the Trump administration. Are you skeptical? Watch how carefully they navigate the question, “Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election?” You’ll get very dodgy answers like:
- “I’m not here to rehash the past.”
- “Joe Biden got the electoral votes to win the presidency.”
- “There were some irregularities with the election.”
They’ll tiptoe around the issue, afraid their response may bruise Trump’s ego and therefore incur his wrath. They live in a world of alternate facts; Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
In this very same world, she stands up and has the temerity to defy them.
As it happens, her pushing back wasn’t enough. Olivia Rodrigo introduces her own music festival, Daisy Chain Fields, inspired by Lilith Fair. The festival features a lineup of exclusively female performers and female-fronted groups. This festival is not-for-profit; profits from ticket sales will go to nonprofits “dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.” This includes Planned Parenthood and the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health.
We may never know whether Rodrigo would’ve had the wherewithal to launch that music festival if she hadn’t been provoked by the Trump administration, which used her music multiple times without her permission.
After all was said and done, a large collection of women-related organizations received $20 million. This included Planned Parenthood. That’s pretty substantial payback for using a couple of your songs.
Though I also think about all the promises made by the existing administration. They include:
- End the Ukraine-Russia war in 24 hours.
- Bring down grocery and household costs on Day One.
- Release the Epstein files.
- No new wars.
Yet we can now hear Trump grovel as he insists that another 50¢ per gallon of gas is an acceptable amount to pay for peace in the Middle East, for a war that he started. That may not sound like much for a man who doesn’t drive. That may not sound like much for someone who has never lived paycheck to paycheck.
I empathize with all those Americans who now will have a higher cost of healthcare. Those illegal tariffs have impacted all American consumers, disproportionately hurting the lowest-income Americans. I identify with those students who could not maintain their grades simply because they were hungry. I ponder a president who has the disposition of a bully, whose only answer to any conflict is the threat of violence. I reflect on a leader who is incapable of showing an iota of humility.
Today, I think about all who suffer because we need to maintain the status quo to preserve his ego. How much must we pay to preserve your ego, Mr. President? From the broken promises to asking us to flip the bill for his mistakes, it’s all one presidential-sized traitor. Olivia Rodrigo’s words expressed it best:
You betrayed me
‘Cause I know that you’ll never feel sorry
For the way I hurt, yeah
Rodrigo’s performance at the American Music Awards was some years ago. Though, reflecting on her today, it’s amazing that she’s doing this at 23.