Merry Christmas, Livies!
Olivia Rodrigo surprised fans Friday with an early Christmas gift: a full version of a song she wrote when she was 5 years old. In an email newsletter to her fan club, the teen pop sensation shared links to her holiday merch collection and a free, downloadable remix of her first Christmas song, “The Bels.”
“hi guys!!” the “Sour” artist, 19, said in a handwritten note included in the newsletter.
“hope everyone is doing well! I miss you guys! It’s been getting cold her in LA & things are slowing down for the holidays. I put my little silver Christmas tree up in my living room & it makes me super happy. im so excited for the new year & everything thats in store! I hope you guys have a holiday season filled with love & relaxation. thinking of you always! all my love! Liv.”
In the two-minute and 18-second throwback track, 5-year-old Rodrigo sings (to a funky holiday beat added in post-production), “Red and green is the Christmas queen / Make the holidays special to me / Oh, see the dancin’ gingerbread dance in your head / Wait, wait, wait for the bells ring there / Now let me hear it out loud / Santa’s coming to town.”
Rodrigo’s extended version of “The Bels” dropped less than a month after the “Drivers License” hitmaker teased “new music” coming in 2023 in a video for Spotify as part of the streaming platform’s annual Spotify Wrapped campaign.
“Thank you so much for listening to my music this year,” Rodrigo said in the clip. “I really truly couldn’t be more grateful, and I’m so excited for next year and all of the new things and the new music that 2023 will bring. … Sending so much love your way.”
After experiencing a breakout year in 2021, Rodrigo kicked off 2022 with a bang by winning three Grammy Awards, including best new artist. Last May, she released her acclaimed debut record, “Sour,” which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Top 200 albums chart and won a Grammy for pop vocal album.
“I’ve only ever seen myself as a songwriter,” Rodrigo told The Times a year ago. “I remember the first time an article said, ‘Olivia Rodrigo is the next big pop star’ — I was like, there are so many things that go along with ‘pop star’ that I never thought I’d be. But I’ll take it.”
