Grammy-winning singer Olivia Rodrigo has hit back at trolls for criticising her recent wardrobe choices, calling the backlash “really disturbing.”
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The controversy erupted after fans and critics targeted the babydoll dresses she has been wearing during her latest stage performances and music videos.
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“I didn’t think that I looked sexy in that at all,” Rodrigo said while discussing the discourse surrounding her outfits.
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“I was like, this is so cool. I feel like I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love, all these people who are my heroes,” she added, referring to the iconic “riot grrrl” musicians whose fashion style inspired her latest era.
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Rodrigo further criticised the way people reacted to her fully covered outfits. “I just think it shows how we really normalise pedophilia in our culture,” she said.
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The controversy began after Rodrigo wore a powder-blue Chloe ensemble with bloomers in her “Drop Dead” music video and later appeared in a floral Generation78 top styled as a babydoll mini dress during Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona earlier this month.
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Videos from the performance circulated online, showing Rodrigo crawling across the stage and revealing ruffled bloomers while performing her song “Brutal,” which explores themes related to the exploitation of teenage girls.
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Also read: Shamita Shetty shuts down trolls targeting her over age
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Several users on social media criticised the outfit, with some calling it “pedo bait” and comparing the styling to “Lolita,” the controversial 1955 novel.
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Addressing the criticism, Rodrigo pointed out the contrast between the reaction to the babydoll dresses and the acceptance of more revealing performance outfits. “I’ve been on stage in… little shorts, which is my right, that’s fun, I felt cool and comfortable in that,” she said.
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“And that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate,” she added.
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Rodrigo also argued that changing one’s clothing choices based on how others may interpret them shifts focus away from the actual issue. “I just think if we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘I don’t want some… freak to think that I’m sexy like a baby’ or some crazy thing like that, I think it’s losing the plot a little bit,” she said.
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Some supporters have suggested the backlash may resemble recent bot-driven online smear campaigns previously directed at artists like Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan, though no coordinated attack against Rodrigo has been confirmed.
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On the work front, Rodrigo’s upcoming third album, โYou Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Loveโ, is scheduled to be released on June 12. Her 65-date โUnraveled Tourโ will begin on September 25.