Olivia Rodrigo is pushing back against online reactions to a recent stage outfit, calling the discourse surrounding her babydoll dress “disturbing” and arguing it reflects deeper cultural problems around how young women are viewed and sexualized.
The 23-year-old singer addressed the backlash during an appearance on The New York Times’ Popcast, after some online commenters labeled a pink-and-white floral babydoll dress she wore during a Spotify Billions Club performance as “childlike” and “inappropriate.”
“That’s been making me so upset,” Rodrigo said. “Not even for me. People can say whatever they want.”
What frustrated her most, she explained, was the contradiction in public reaction. “I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts, which is my right,” she said. “And that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate.”
Rodrigo argued the response says more about cultural conditioning than clothing itself. “It shows how we really normalize paedophilia in our culture,” she added.
The Grammy-winning artist also criticized the messaging many girls grow up hearing about responsibility and perception. “Don’t wear that because then a man is going to sexualise your body and it’s your fault,” Rodrigo said. “It’s so weird.”
The singer noted she viewed the outfit through an entirely different lens, drawing inspiration from iconic alternative female artists she admires, including Kathleen Hanna and Courtney Love.
“I was like, ‘This is so cool. I feel I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love,’” Rodrigo explained. “I felt cool and comfortable in it.”
She also emphasized that she refuses to alter how she dresses because of the risk of disturbing interpretations from others. “If we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘I don’t want some f****** freak to think that I’m sexy like a baby,’ then I think it’s losing the plot a little bit,” she said.
Rodrigo added that she feels especially protective of younger women and girls navigating similar pressures. “I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric,” she said.
The full Popcast interview is expected to be released on Thursday.
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