Olivia Rodrigo Rises

To everyone else, she is the queen of heartbreak. I've always known better.

- Photographed by Morgan Maher. Styled by Brandon Tan. Interviewed by Madison Hu

When Cosmopolitan asked me to write this cover story about my best friend Olivia Rodrigo, my first question for her was, “Can you bring a pack of cards?” Most of the time, Olivia and I2 are faced with the quandary of never being in the same place at the same time.3 It’s usually, I’ll see you in two months when you’re in town. When is your next break from touring? How far is Vancouver from Los Angeles, really? But the stars have aligned for this February morning in New York City, where we sit together in a hotel room, me in pyjamas and Olivia in a trench coat and flare jeans, pregaming this interview with our favourite game, Nertz.

It’s a contentious match, and in the end, I win. I bask in my triumph while, as per her usual, Olivia is busy taking life lessons from a round of cards. “See, now this is why patience is key,” she self-soothes. “Nertz is my greatest teacher.” She’s joking, of course, but I know she’s also not entirely kidding.

Part of early adulthood is realising you have more questions than answers, that everything you thought you’d have figured out by now remains a mystery. It’s an intimidating revelation but one Olivia leans into as she holds steadfast to a desire to learn from anything. I can attest that, just as she does in her music, she spends a lot of time in real life asking those questions—both the smaller, everyday ones and the unwieldy, daunting ones—driven by the same innate curiosity that bonded us more than a decade ago.4