Olivia Rodrigo has recruited Chappell Roan for a remix of ‘expectations’, a highlight from her third album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. In the accompanying video, the two pop stars take part in a gameshow hosted by David Byrne (who covered ‘drivers license’ earlier this year). Watch and listen below.
In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Rodrigo said: “When I wrote ‘expectations’, initially, it was kind of like as a challenge to myself. I wanted to write a mantra song. I felt lots of my songs were like, ‘This is how I feel, blah, blah, blah,’ But I wanted to be like, ‘I want to sing this song every night.’ It’s like Kendrick Lamar, ‘Sit down, be humble,’ it gets in your brain. You know what I mean? It’s a mantra. And so when I made the song, honestly, I was really inspired by Chappell and the attitude and swagger that she had. I think I probably played it for you while we were in the middle of making the record too. And it always felt sort of inspired by you and your songwriting style. So yeah, I was so stoked when she agreed to be on it. It was a dream come true.”
Roan added: “This is obviously my first feature. I’ve never done this before, so it feels perfect to me. I don’t know. I feel like it represents a generation of songwriters that are just really thinking about their lyrics. I felt like with this song, I was like, ‘Wow, it’s so cool that she is putting a pretty difficult concept within the pop song,’ which is my favorite pop songs ever. But it felt so natural to settle in because I was like, ‘This is so real. To have expectations of people is so valid.’ But as for the verse about being set up and stuff, I mean, that was made up. Most of my song is more like a fantasy.”
