Young women are angry. They now have a soundtrack for that

Olivia, Sabrina, Billie and Charli are giving young women the words they have been searching for to express themselves.

- Lin Suling

There is a female equivalent of the question, "How many seconds does your car take to go from zero to 100km per hour?"

I discovered this last year, listening belatedly to Olivia Rodrigo's ballad Drivers License for the first time and finding myself counting the seconds her voice took to go from a quiet whisper to a powerful crescendo.

Five.

That song released in 2021 catapulted her to fame. Only 21, Olivia is the youngest artiste ever with three No. 1 singles and the youngest solo singer to debut at No. 1. Dubbed "pop's brightest new hope" by The New York Times, she's incredibly talented and writes the compelling lyrics of the songs she performs.

Olivia represents a new breed of female icons finding massive success with their runaway hits - both commercially and critically. Her impact is monumental. She had four sold-out shows in New York City's Madison Square Garden, and the Financial Times said her performance and her strong connection with her audience left them speechless.

"I don't know how to explain it... I felt happy for a full 24 hours after the show," US media editor Anna Nicolaou said on the Life And Art From FT Weekend podcast.

The stranger thing? "There's, like, mums and daughters hugging and dancing. There's girls crying, there's girls scream-singing while recording every moment."

THE NEW CONFESSIONAL POP

The reason for her resonance? The wildly cathartic discography, packed with angsty teenage anthems, centres on the most common source of misery in girls and a wellspring of regrets for most women: the hellscape of modern dating.