Why an Olivia Rodrigo concert is the perfect place to revel in girlhood
by Savannah Roberts @savannahsocials @wordsbysavannah
I have never danced, sung and revelled in silliness the way I did at an Olivia Rodrigo concert. Rows upon rows of women, all howling/screaming/bellowing along to unapologetic lyrics that span an entire spectrum of emotion.
I felt so grateful to be a woman enjoying myself surrounded by other women who were just as elated to be there – queue the viral TikTok sound now:
But what is girlhood?
Over the years I have wavered in embracing my girlhood. Upward from 22, I began to realise the untapped joy it was to wear one’s girliness on her sleeve.
With 2023 being widely dubbed ‘the year of the girl’, I can’t help but imagine what it must feel like now to grow up in this era of girlhood. TikTok is overrun with everything from girl math to girl dinner. We’re making Sofia Coppola-core content and learning how to achieve strawberry girl make-up. We’re hot-girl walking in ‘ballet-esque’ fits and having feral girl summers in ‘coquette’ looks. Carrie Bradshaw is making a comeback and book clubs are bountiful. We’re in a pop cultural golden age for the girls.
The music scene is teeming with women, with the most-talked-about stars of the planet being Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and, of course, Olivia Rodrigo to name a few recent captivators of the masses. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel pop music is the most exciting it’s been in over a decade.
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards was practically a dedication to queer women, with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Victoria Monét, and boygenius all taking home trophies. Out of the Grammy’s Big Four, queer women bagged wins three of the core categories.
“give me back my girlhood, it was mine first”
Why Olivia Rodigro’s GUTS World Tour is a celebration of girlhood
One of my best friends and I were lucky enough to snag two tickets to Rodrigo’s first Birmingham show. This friend is as loyal a pop love as myself and we enjoyed a night of sporting short skirts and glittered tops and headbanging to songs you wouldn’t expect. We sand along to heartbreak, infatuation, bitterness, carelessness, insecurity, confusion, embarrassment, doubt…
I don’t know about you, but in my experience, that’s a pretty accurate retelling of the swinging pendulum of emotions from teenagerdom to 20-something-territory.
From ‘bad idea, right?’ to ‘lacy’ to ‘so american’ – Rodrigo made every single person in that 16,000-strong knot of fans feel seen. At least every fan could see themselves in at least one lyric (but my hunch is the relatability stretches much farther than that).
“When am I gonna stop being great for my age and just start being good?”
On May 10, we acted out all the lyrics, we mirrored our choreography, we lost our voices. On that heatwave of a Birmingham night, we sweated through the setlist along with 15,998 other fans, a dance crew, a band and one very impressive 21-year-old.
Being a teenage girl isn’t easy, being a woman navigating work and love and friends and spinning all the other plates of adult life is hard too. Spending nights spilling your guts in song form with one of the most gifted artists in the game right now, is a pretty healing way to move through those troubles.
Embrace the femininity, exist in the cringe and reject any patriarchal framework that tries to surround you. Wear the ‘girly’ outfit, scream the relatable lyrics, and drink your themed mocktail (mine was called good 4 u). I for one wouldn’t trade anything to be surrounded by thousands of like-minded women who are all in one place to enjoy some bloody fantastic pop music.
Find your equivalent to my Olivia Rodrigo concert and revel in your girlhood – highly recommended.