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Culture > Entertainment

The Olivia Rodrigo Phenomenon: “Sour” Opener Gracie Abrams, “Sour”/”Guts” Opener Chappell Roan & Their Newly Found Stardom

Lauren McNulty
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at TAMU chapter.

American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan rose to fame seemingly overnight, making headlines at Coachella and landing multiple hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100. More recently, she won the 2024 VMA for Best Artist.  

American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams has also seen a spike in popularity recently. Her newest album, The Secret of Us, was released in June, and one of its tracks, “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” has almost 200,000 Spotify streams just shy of four months after its release.

Besides producing similar styles of pop that cater to a large audience of teenage girls, what do these two artists have in common? 

They both opened for Olivia Rodrigo. 

Filipino-American singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Rodrigo first became known for starring in Disney’s Bizaardvark (2016-2019) and the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-2022), where she co-starred with her ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett, who much of her Sour album is about. 

Rodrigo kicked off her first tour, the Sour Tour, in 2022 after the album saw great success. Both Roan and Abrams were featured as openers for numerous dates on the tour. Abrams was the first of the two to benefit from the exposure. 

After opening for most of the April dates, fans gravitated towards her music and style. Abrams’s fanbase saw extreme growth, and a year after opening for Rodrigo, she commenced her own tour: The Good Riddance Tour, where fans flocked in large numbers to see the popular new artist. 

Abrams’s growth didn’t stop there, though. She was invited to be one of the openers for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and went on to produce the song “us.” from her newest album The Secret of Us with the seasoned superstar. 

Abram saw a massive surge in popularity following her days opening for the Sour Tour, and by the time the Guts World Tour rolled around, Rodrigo sought other artists to open for her second studio album tour. 

One of those artists was Chappell Roan. 

Roan had opened for the Sour Tour, but only briefly, so she didn’t gain nearly as much exposure as she did the second time with the Guts World Tour. 

During the tour, Roan performed songs from her most recent album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, including “Casual”, “Pink Pony Club”, and “HOT TO GO!”.

Although she was not well-known then, many fans found themselves enjoying her bold, fun music and even found they could relate to a few of her songs. In addition to the tour boosting her popularity, TikTok is one of the main reasons for her skyrocketing popularity. 

Many of her songs, specifically those on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and single “Good Luck Babe!” were featured in TikTok trends, growing her audience even further. Like Abrams, she also began her own tour after gaining popularity opening for Olivia and through TikTok. 

Despite other factors, opening for Rodrigo’s tours undoubtedly boosted Abrams’s and Roan’s careers. Who will be the next new artist brought to fame by Rodrigo?

Lauren McNulty is a freshman journalism major from Katy, TX. She loves writing, especially about fun and entertaining topics. As Managing Editor of her high school yearbook and Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper, she has experience covering topics such as sports, music, student life, and writing various profiles. She is very excited to be writing for Her Campus because it gives her the opportunity to write about topics relevant and relatable to Gen-Z college students. Besides writing, she loves reading, spending time with friends, and endlessly scrolling on social media. She also loves listening to music and attending concerts – a few of her favorite artists include Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez, and Noah Kahan. Still, her overall music taste is very broad. She looks forward to working with Her Campus to expand her writing abilities and allow her to share her work with an audience of like-minded people.