I know, I know: High School Musical and on TV, no less! Heresy! It's like drinking Dr. Bold instead of Dr Pepper, but what can I say?
I saw Olivia Rodrigo perform on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert and, like last year when I first heard about her during that SNL skit, I was blown away. She's pretty incredible!
When I dove into her album late last year, I kept thinking to myself, How in the world did this girl emerge so fully formed? Her songwriting, lyrics, vocal quality, performance, and outright 'stage presence' just felt so natural, so immediate, so honed.
Anyhoo, it's due, in large part, to Disney—and all that practice on this goofy little HSM TV spin-off (which is, for the record, 'okay,' but mostly cringeworthy because it's so meta and refers so frequently to the movies and actors themselves).
Nevertheless, it was helpful for me to see Olivia's genesis.
Now I understand.
Sorta like when The Beatles landed stateside and everyone was so blown away. Very helpful to read about their 10,000 hours in Gladwell's work and to know that they, like she, had years of practice before we ever heard 'em.
Or, in Olivia's case, before I ever heard of 'em, as HSM on Disney is not something I would have organically stepped into if left to my own devices.
