This past week, Olivia Rodrigo has announced her long-awaited third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love – and though the campaign has just kicked off, there’s already some interesting elements to it.
Back in December, conversation around the album was growing due to rumours of a potential breakup of Olivia and her partner Louis Partridge. Gossip sites shared those rumours, alongside wondering whether this would interfere with the album which was supposedly her first love album. It’s unclear whether this was strategically seeded, but it was kind of good timing, the pair still seems to be together, and the album is coming!
The first official teaser of the new era arrived in the form of murals featuring a new iteration of her logo, and a shade of her signature purple. Soon, these murals kept evolving with a slightly different lighter shade being painted over the mural every night.
Without saying much, this move communicated something was coming soon, her signature purple immediately creating recognisability, while also signaling a new era and evolution. And that new era is already being discussed online by various pop culture commentators.
Following on from this stunt, Olivia started leaving branded heart-shaped locks in different parts of the world, as seen on her social media which now exclusively features these new posts: New Jersey, LA, Paris, London.
It’s unclear what it means, but fans and media alike are already heavily speculating. The album’s lead single “drop dead” has just been announced to be released next week, while there’s rumours circulating that Olivia will join Sabrina Carpenter as a surprise guest at Sabrina’s headlining Coachella performance – due to some easter eggs from both artists.
This is already generating a lot of attention due to the past feud of the two, which would mirror a Charli xcx / Lorde girl-unity type moment.
What can music marketers take away from this?
Share rumours: People love some good rumours and gossip. Work with creators and relevant pages to seed rumours that can benefit the conversation around your artist and release.
Stagger storytelling: Instead of one massive announcement, Olivia is breadcrumbing the era through evolving murals, physical objects, and social easter eggs. This creates sustained engagement by giving fans a constant stream of new data to analyse, speculate on, and share.
