Olivia O'Brien
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Olivia Gail O'Brien (born November 26, 1999) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in 2016 after collaborating with Gnash on the single " I Hate U, I Love U", which peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the United States and number one in Australia. The success resulted in a recording contract with
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
, with whom she released two
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
s, three
mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
s, and her debut studio album '' Was It Even Real?'' (2019).


Early life

Olivia Gail O'Brien was born on November 26, 1999, in
Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. She has been singing since she was seven years old, and taught herself to play guitar and piano. She attended
Justin-Siena High School Justin-Siena High School is a Catholic preparatory school in the Lasallian tradition, located in Napa, California, within the Diocese of Santa Rosa. The school was created when Justin High School for males, sponsored by the Christian Brothers ...
in
Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...
. She also skipped a grade (3rd), and attended Montessori and Catholic schools in her youth. O'Brien also was bullied as a teenager, some of it stemming from her social class and the fact she was creating music.


Career


2013–2019: Breakthrough and ''Was It Even Real?''

O'Brien initially gained the attention of Gnash after posting a cover of one of his songs on
SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
, after beginning to create music at the age of 13. Gnash reached out to O'Brien, expressing interest in her material, and asked for her to send him any original songs that she had. O'Brien then sent a voice note of her original song, "I Hate U, Love U", and he invited her to record the song with him in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. "I Hate U, I Love U" (stylized in
lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...
) was released in March 2016, and appears on Gnash's third EP titled ''Us''. The single peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached number one in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Thereafter, O'Brien signed with
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
and released her debut solo single, "Trust Issues", in August 2016, which premiered through ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' magazine. Her second single, "Root Beer Float" featuring Blackbear, premiered on September 15, 2016. O'Brien released a third single, "Find What You're Looking For", in October 2016. O'Brien released "Hate U, Love U" as a single in December, the original solo version of "I Hate U, I Love U". O'Brien also released an acoustic video for the song on December 20, 2016. O'Brien made her television debut in July 2016 with Gnash performing "I Hate U, I Love U" on ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...
''. O'Brien and Gnash made their second television performance on September 19, 2016, performing "i hate u, i love u" on ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...
''. In February 2017, O'Brien released "Empty" as the lead single from her debut extended play. In March 2017, O'Brien was nominated for an
iHeartRadio Music Award The iHeartRadio Music Awards is a music awards show that celebrates music heard throughout the year across iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia's digital music platform. Founded by iHeartRadio in 2014, the eve ...
for Best Solo Breakout, but lost to
Zayn Malik Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993) is an English singer-songwriter. He auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010, where he ended up being a part of five-piece b ...
. She released the next single from the EP in July, "RIP", with accompanying music video. The third single, "No Love", followed in November along with her debut extended play, ''It's Not That Deep''. O'Brien featured in the acoustic version of Jack & Jack's single "Beg", released in January 2018. In June 2018, a remix of "RIP" was released with the collaboration of
G-Eazy Gerald Earl Gillum (born May 24, 1989), better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper. Based in Oakland, California, he began his career in 2006 and released two independent studio albums before signing with RCA Records to releas ...
and Drew Love. In August 2018, "UDK" was released as the first promotional single from O'Brien's debut studio album. O'Brien released the lead single, "I Don't Exist", in September, followed by "Care Less More" in November, both with accompanying music videos. The third single, "Love Myself", was released on February 1, 2019. In March, O'Brien announced that her debut studio album, '' Was It Even Real?'', was scheduled for release on April 26, 2019. She then released "Just Friends" as the second promotional single, and "Just a Boy", as the final single before the release of the album. In May 2019, O'Brien collaborated with the Norwegian group
Seeb Al-Seeb, As Seeb, As Sib, or Seeb () is a coastal fishing province, located several kilometres northwest of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 470,878. Landmarks include the Naseem Garden, the Royal Stables ...
on " Fade Out". The single was accompanied by a music video.


2019–2020: Micromixtapes

On November 15, 2019, she released a project called ''It Was a Sad Fucking Summer'' as the first release from a series of "micro-mixtapes" leading to her next album. She also announced a tour, It Was a Sad F**king Tour, beginning in February 2020. On February 6, 2020, O'Brien released her second micro-mixtape, ''The Results Of My Poor Judgement''. In April 2020, O'Brien was set to perform at
Coachella Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorad ...
, which was later canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. A track from the tape called "Josslyn" gained traction on streaming services and radio airplay when users on
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
began doing dance challenges to the song. A "quarantine" music video shot at O'Brien's house in isolation during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
was released on May 8. The single would be re-released on the ''Josslyn'' EP which included the original version of the song, a remix, a demo of the song and a
radio edit In music, a radio edit, or a "clean version," is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay. It may be censored for profanity, vulgarities, or subject matter; or adjusted for length, instr ...
on May 15. A remix with rapper
24kGoldn Golden Landis Von Jones (born November 13, 2000), known professionally as 24kGoldn, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He initially saw recognition for his 2019 single " Valentino", which marked his first entry on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...
was released on May 22, whilst the original song was serviced to top 40 radio formats on June 2. On September 18, 2020, O'Brien released a single titled "Now" along with a music video.


2021–2023: ''Episodes''

O'Brien released the single, "Better Than Feeling Lonely" on January 1, 2021. On April 9, 2021, O'Brien released "Sociopath" as the lead single for her scrapped album following an online fan vote between it and "Bitch Back", which was later released, featuring FLETCHER on August 5, 2022. The first part of what would have been her second studio album was released on June 11, 2021, under the name ''Episodes: Season 1''. The track "No More Friends" features from
Oli Sykes Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British musician who is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel. Early ...
. To support the project, O'Brien embarked on The Olivia O'Brien Show tour in the fall of 2021. However, Olivia decided to take a step back on the release of the second half of the album for now, saying she " oesn'twant to worry about making a project right now", and that she's "just putting out songs at this point" on the Zach Sang Show. However, she has also said that "if at some point er team and herwant to compile he upcoming songstogether", they could make that compilation into ''Episodes: Season 2''.


2023–present: Departure from Island

In March 2023, O'Brien announced via
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
that she left Island Records due to a variety of differences. In April, she released "Born With a Broken Heart," her first single as an independent artist, followed by "I Should've Fucked Your Brother" in July. In 2024, she launched an independent record label, called Girlhood Records, where she will release her future music in, with distribution through Warner Music Group's
ADA Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...
.


Personal life

O'Brien came out as
bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
via Twitter on July 22, 2022.


Discography


Studio albums


Extended plays


Mixtapes


Singles


As lead artist


As featured artist


Promotional singles


Songwriting credits


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Olivia 1999 births Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American LGBTQ people American bisexual musicians American women singer-songwriters American women pop singers Bisexual women singers Singers from Los Angeles American trip hop musicians Island Records artists 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California