Olivia Rodrigo Donates $2 Million Guts World Tour Proceeds to Charity

Matty Healy was everywhere across the past 18 months, largely because of his brief rumoured romance with Taylor Swift, which generated endless newspaper headlines and some of the most biting moments on Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department. The 1975 have played Glastonbury on three occasions – but have stepped up a level since their last performance, on the Other Stage in 2016. According to a release, Rodrigo’s donation amounts to more than $2 million and Olivia Rodrigo Fans will go toward a total of 10 organizations championing girls’ education, reproductive rights and the prevention of gender-based violence. Each of the benefiting organizations champions the health and equity of women and girls. “I remember hearing that song on the radio for the first time,” recalled Rodrigo. “It was one of those pinch-me moments where you always remember — snapshot memory. Like, ‘Oh my God. What is this?’ It changes the trajectory of your life.”

Albums

“Our goal was to make something a little more playful, a record that didn’t take itself so seriously,” she explained in her Rolling Stone cover story. Olivia Rodrigo may have started her career on Disney Channel, a typical pipeline for major pop stars like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez. But Rodrigo’s career trajectory has been extraordinary as she forged a path for Gen Z vulnerability with her diaristic songwriting. In addition, Rodrigo displayed a passion for acting, taking classes by the time she turned 6. She had roles in school productions but also started to audition for professional jobs. To do this, her parents would take her on a 90-mile trek to Los Angeles.

Charts

In 2021, Rodrigo graduated from high school and moved into her own apartment in Los Angeles. That July, she visited the White House and met President Joe Biden as part of an effort to encourage young people to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Rodrigo’s youthful songwriting compositions often focused on heartbreak, even before she’d had a boyfriend. “I literally wrote breakup songs before I ever held a boy’s hand,” she told People. Olivia Rodrigo is donating over two million dollars from the net proceeds of ticket sales from her GUTS World Tour to charities around the globe.

Rodrigo performed “Drivers License” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in February 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her first live performance didn’t happen until the Brit Awards in the United Kingdom in May 2021. She was a success there and, as a bonus, got to meet her idol Taylor Swift. Rodrigo also was a musical performer on an episode of Saturday Night Live the same month.

With support from producer Dan Nigro, who first reached out to Rodrigo after seeing her sing on Instagram, “drivers license” was recorded for release in January 2021. The breakup ballad debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making 17-year-old Rodrigo the youngest performer to accomplish this feat. On TikTok, countless people lip-synched and created cover videos for the song. Olivia Rodrigo is leaving the countries she visited on the Guts World Tour better than she found them. As announced Tuesday (Dec. 17), the 21-year-old pop star is donating a hefty chunk of her net proceeds from ticket sales to charities all over the globe, marking just the latest initiative she’s taken through her Fund 4 Good’s to support women and girls in need.