Olivia Rodrigo, soon to be as the musical guest on this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” previewed that U.S. live TV debut performance by singing “Driver’s License” on live television for the first time at Tuesday’s Brit Awards.
After taking to the Brits’ red carpet in a lime green dress, Rodrigo became the woman in red as she sang her breakout hit on a stage at the O2 Arena, surrounded by blue digital butterflies as she sang her tale of teen romantic woe.
The 18-year-old previously appeared performing the tune at the piano on “The Tonight Show” in February in a pre-taped segment.
🎥| @Olivia_Rodrigo performing ‘drivers license’ at the #BRITs
Part 2 pic.twitter.com/vogu6iRDht— Taylivia Team (@TayliviaTeam) May 11, 2021
Rodrigo is as popular in Britain as she is in America. “Driver’s License” remains the biggest song of 2021 in the U.K. to date. It was No. 1 for nine weeks, becoming the No. 1 debut single with the longest run at the top since Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” more than a decade and a half ago.
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The “High School Musical” actor has released a second single, too, “Deja Vu,” and has a third, “Good 4 U,” on the way before her debut album, “Sour,” comes out May 21.
This year’s Brits are behing held at the O2 with a limited audience of 2,500, with free tickets offered to frontline workers.
Rodrigo recently told the British paper the Guardian that she has suffered “sexist criticism” for “only writ(ing) songs about boys… I’m a teenage girl,” she protested. “I write about stuff that I feel really intensely… I don’t really understand what people want me to write about; do you want me to write a song about income taxes? How am I going to write an emotional song about that?”
Other performances on the Brits included Dua Lipa singing a medley of songs from “Future Nostalgia,” starting with a filmed introduction full of dancers on a subway train and transitioning to a subway station set live in the O2. Elton John and Years & Years also did a duet early in the telecast, being seen in the U.S. on the Brits’ YouTube channel.