Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during a taping of the "Austin City Limits" TV show at ACL Live on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas.
Amy Harris/Invision/APAfter a landmark year in which she released her debut album, played her first big concert and broke streaming records, the rise of Olivia Rodrigo has only just begun.
The promising Disney starlet-turned-international pop star — who has been named Billboard’s Woman of the Year for the 2022 Women in Music Awards — has said she’s been singing all her life, but began honing her craft at age 5 by taking singing lessons and performing at (and winning) local talent competitions before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the spotlight.
Ahead of the 2022 Billboard Women in Music Awards on March 2 at the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., see how Rodrigo has grown as a singer over the years, from performing covers of classics to the self-written tunes she’s now known for.
Age 6, “Don’t Stop Believin’”
A very little, pigtailed Rodrigo rocked the stage at the 2010 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show in Anaheim, Calif.. She nailed the rock-star attitude during her performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Highlight: Slowly raising her arm (à la Glee) as she held the high note in the pre-chorus, followed by an adorable little strut during the guitar solo.
Age 8, “Don’t Rain on My Parade”
One of the singing competitions Rodrigo performed at on at least two occasions was her town’s local Boys & Girls Club Idol in 2011. You can see the payoff in her singing lessons as she showed off her range in “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” made famous by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. Rodrigo’s rendition earned her first place in her age group. Watch her take the stage here.
Highlight: The pout on her face and vibrato in her voice as she sang “Your turn at bat, sir/ At least I didn’t fake it/ Hat, sir, I guess I didn’t make it!”
Age 10, “Mama Knows Best”
“I like singing because it’s the funnest thing since… everything,” Rodrigo shyly laughs in a video clip before taking the stage at 2013’s Boys & Girls Club Idol. Her somewhat reserved demeanor does a complete 180 as soon as she belts the first note of Jessie J’s “Mama Knows Best,” which again won her the top prize at the competition. Watch her performance here.
Highlight: She shows off her riffing abilities throughout the song, but her jazzy scat is wholly impressive after just five years of singing lessons.
Age 12, “Hello”
Rodrigo brought out a guitar for her acoustic rendition of Adele’s “Hello.” The preteen perfects her crescendos and tone as she hits the low notes in the verses and belts the high notes in the chorus.
Highlight: Her riffs during the bridge. Nuff said.
Age 16, “All I Want”
A couple of months following the release of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in December 2019, Rodrigo delivered a somber performance of “All I Want,” which she self-wrote for her character on the show. Only her voice and the keyboard she’s playing fill the minimalist room as she beautifully sings the ballad.
Highlight: Her riff when she sings, “We fell in love but it didn’t last.”
Age 17, “drivers license”
The Tonight Show hosted Rodrigo for the TV debut of her eight-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “drivers license.” She hits all the right notes in her moody performance as she plays a grand piano, later joined by a string quartet.
.Highlight: Her powerful start to the bridge — “Red lights, stop signs” — as the soft white lasers that light the stage turn red.
Age 18, “traitor”
For one of the last performances wrapping up her huge debut year, Rodrigo played a set of at the annual Austin City Limits festival. She has officially nailed the pop-star persona as she sings the fourth single from Sour alongside an all-girl band to an audience of fans mouthing all the lyrics: “You betrayed me/ And I know that you’ll never feel sorry/ For the way I hurt, yeah.”
Highlight: Belting the lyric “traitor” has she sings the chorus the final time and stands center stage.
NEWS
It has been just over seven months since Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce revealed their engagement through an Instagram post that quickly went viral.
Since that announcement, both stars have stayed extremely busy with their careers. Swift dropped her 15th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, The Life of a Showgirl, in October, selling an impressive 4 million equivalent album units. Around the same time, Kelce confirmed he would return to the Kansas City Chiefs for his 14th NFL season earlier this month.
Even though they have both expressed excitement about organizing their wedding, their current focus remains on their professional commitments.
“I’m just doing the album thing now,” Swift shared during an October interview on The Graham Norton Show after Norton asked whether wedding preparations had started. “And then I think the wedding is after that.”
After Swift and Kelce made their first joint awards show appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 26, curiosity about their wedding plans has started building again.
People close to the couple, often referred to as the Tayvis circle, have mostly stayed quiet about any confirmed plans. Kelce’s mother Donna Kelce declined to comment when approached by a photographer at LAX about whether she would help with the planning. “I’m just happy. I’m so happy for them,” she said.
At the same time, Swift’s future sister in law Kylie Kelce, who is married to Travis’ brother Jason, asked listeners on her Not Gonna Lie podcast on April 2 to stop asking for insider information. “Quit asking me and my mother in law [Donna] about upcoming nuptials,” she said directly to viewers. “Nobody’s f—ing telling you anything.” She continued by saying, “I don’t have any details. I have no details. I have none. Look at that. That’s how many details I have. None. None.”
While Donna and Kylie have chosen to stay private, a handful of people within the couple’s inner circle, including Taylor and Travis themselves, have occasionally shared small insights about the wedding.
Here is what has been revealed so far about the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding.
Swift is interested in having the ceremony in another location
During an interview on BBC Radio 1, host Greg James thanked Swift for supposedly inviting him to the celebration, joking that although he usually avoids destination weddings, he would gladly attend hers. When he asked where she might hold the event, Swift kept things mysterious, replying, “I’m going to let you know at a different time.”
The guest list could be very large
If you are hoping to receive an invitation to the Tayvis wedding, there might actually be a chance.
During an October 2025 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Swift joked that Norton would eventually find out when he asked whether the wedding might take place in 2026. She clarified that she plans to invite him along with practically everyone she has spent time with.
“I know it’s going to be fun to plan because I think the only stressful weddings are the ones where you have a small amount, and people are on the bubble,” Swift said. “And you have to evaluate or assess your relationship with them to see if they should be there. I’m not going to do that.”
She added, “Anyone I’ve ever talked to.”
Watch the full clip below.
A live band will probably provide the music
It appears the couple is leaning toward live performers rather than a DJ.
On a September episode of the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast, guest Jimmy Fallon asked Travis whether they had begun thinking about wedding details.
“Are you gonna do DJ or band? Are you thinking about all this stuff?” Fallon asked.
Kelce answered by sharing their preference, saying, “Yeah, I think we’re live music kind of people, you know?”
Although he likely would not be the only performer, Swift hinted in an October interview with Hits Radio that her close friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran could perform during the celebration.
“It’s like, ‘Ed, if there’s a stage, you know that you’ll be on it,” Swift said. “He knows what people want and he wants to give people what they want.”
The wedding could happen before summer ends
Fans hoping for an autumn themed ceremony might be disappointed, as the couple may be considering a summer timeframe.
During a January 2025 episode of New Heights, recorded months before the engagement, Kelce explained why fall weddings can be difficult due to the football season.
“I actually don’t know people who have gotten married in the fall,” he said. “All the weddings I’ve been to, and all my friends do it in the summer.”
If they do move forward with a wedding this year, it may happen before the end of the summer. Kelce recently confirmed he would return to the Chiefs for another season, partly inspired by Swift’s dedication to her work. ESPN reporter Nate Taylor also mentioned that Kelce “plans to marry [Swift] before training camp,” which begins July 22. If they want to avoid conflicts with football, the ceremony would likely need to happen before that date.
Invitations may not have been sent yet
Even with speculation pointing toward a summer ceremony, no confirmed date has been publicly shared, and even people close to them say they are unsure.
In a September interview on SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series, Ed Sheeran said he had not yet received a save the date. He also mentioned that he found out about their engagement through Instagram just like everyone else.
“You didn’t even get a DM in advance?” host Andy Cohen asked.
“No,” Sheeran responded.
More recently, Kylie Kelce said during a January appearance on Today with Savannah Guthrie that she had no idea whether the wedding would happen this year.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Kylie admitted when discussing how little she knows about the plans.
Kylie also repeated that she has no inside information during an appearance on the podcast Conversations With Cam. “I would love to give you all the details. I don’t have them,” she said after host Cam Rogers asked what fans should expect from the wedding.
