NEWS
Olivia Rodrigo
Louis Browne*Olivia Rodrigo is capping a blockbuster year with the broadcast of her Austin City Limits set — and before it airs on PBS, Billboard is premiering her ACL performance of “drivers license,” the song that started a successful year of firsts for the singer/songwriter.
“This is the first song I ever put out, and it’s really special to me, so sing along if you know it,” the 18-year-old says in front of a grand piano before launching into the heart-wrenching breakup track.
During the performance, the camera cuts to the audience full of Rodrigo’s young fans mouthing the lyrics to the song. The fans can be heard chiming in to sing the song’s now-iconic chorus — “And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one/ And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone/ Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me/ ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
Rodrigo’s appearance at the Austin City Limits music festival — which took place on Oct. 2 — marked her first full-set live performance and official debut at the concert series, where she performed a total of eight tracks from her debut album, Sour. Rodrigo also performed with an all-female band, a first for ACL.
Rodrigo’s Austin City Limits performance premieres Saturday on PBS (check your local listings). Rodrigo shares the episode with Phoebe Bridgers, who also made her ACL debut this year. The second half of season 47 of Austin City Limits will continue starting Jan. 8.
Watch Rodrigo perform “drivers license” below.
At the BTS concert in Tokyo on Friday (April 17), j-hope opened up to ARMY with heartbreaking news. His grandmother, who played a major role in raising him and had always been proud of his journey with the group, has passed away.
Speaking to the packed crowd at the Tokyo Dome, the K-pop star chose to be open with fans about what he was going through. “Honestly, this might be a bit of a heavy thing to share, but I really wanted to express how I’m feeling today,” he said, translated from Korean into English. “Right after we arrived in Japan, I got the news that my maternal grandmother, the one who raised me from when I was little, had passed away.”
“I felt completely stunned and did not really know how to process it at first, but being around the members, sitting down together for meals, and focusing on rehearsals helped me more than I thought it would,” j-hope went on. “My grandmother was always incredibly proud, not just of me but of all the members. She truly believed in what we do. So I feel like if she was watching from above today, she would have loved every second of it.”
He closed by thanking the audience for making his first performance after the loss feel meaningful and full of support.
BTS are currently touring in support of their new album ARIRANG, which has just earned a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Following three opening shows in Goyang, South Korea, the group is set to perform twice at the Tokyo Dome before heading abroad for the North American leg. Before the tour wraps in March next year, they will also visit Latin America, Europe, Australia, and several other regions across Asia.
On the same day as the first Tokyo concert, j-hope’s solo interview with Rolling Stone was released. During the conversation, he spoke about stepping into a leadership presence within the group. “I think that’s my role on the team,” he shared. “It just comes naturally. It feels strange to even call it a role, but I just try to handle things as they come and support the other members in any way I can.”
Additional reporting from Billboard Korea.
