A different girl, but she’s nothing new: Olivia Rodrigo and posting imitation pop on TikTok

ABSTRACT

Olivia Rodrigo is a Filipina American pop star who used the micro-vlogging network TikTok to launch her music career in early 2021. Though Rodrigo received criticism for copying other musicians’ work, I argue that Rodrigo’s authenticity is predicated on her use of transparent content creation on her TikTok account to connect with her young, global audience. Using Rodrigo’s TikTok as a case study, this commentary essay introduces the concept of imitation pop to interrogate the relationship between influencing, pastiche, and the curation of celebrity image on social media platforms.

KEYWORDS:

• Celebrity image
• influencer
• Olivia Rodrigo
• social media
• TikTok

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the Feminist Media Studies editorial team for supporting the manuscript and Ryan A. D'Souza, Beatriz A. Nieto Fernandez, and Clementine Oberst for their helpful guidance and feedback on earlier drafts of the essay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Rodrigo’s musical work uses lowercase script and no apostrophes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Sage Rauchberg

Jessica Sage Rauchberg is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Studies and Media Arts at McMaster University. Jess’s research on information and communication technologies presents critical/cultural and crip-theory informed approaches to study social media algorithms and digital cultures, with a particular focus on TikTok. E-mail: [email protected]