Olivia Rodrigo Announces Robert Smith as a Collaborator on New Album

JAKARTA - Olivia Rodrigo surprisingly announced a full collaboration with The Cure vocalist Robert Smith. This cross-genre and generational collaboration will fill one of the tracks on Rodrigo's third studio album which is scheduled to be released this week.

The announcement was made directly by Rodrigo from the stage while performing at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain, last weekend.

In the middle of his performance, Rodrigo unexpectedly performed a new song titled "What's Wrong With Me" and immediately called Robert Smith to the stage to sing it live.

"This is very special for me for many reasons, especially because this is the first song where I have an official collaboration with another musician," Rodrigo said when introducing his new song in front of thousands of spectators, quoted by Variety, Monday, June 8.

Before this surprise broke, Robert Smith's involvement as Rodrigo's vocal partner was actually known by a handful of people in the music industry who were invited to a limited listening session for the new album in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

However, all invitations are asked to keep the secrecy until Rodrigo himself officially announces it to the public.

Rodrigo's love for The Cure is no secret to fans. Previously, he had released a single titled "drop dead" which included the name of the British band in the lyrics.

He also launched a second single titled "The Cure". However, none of the fans suspected that Robert Smith would actually be present to contribute a prominent vocal contribution to the third song which is completely different.

Olivia Rodrigo's third album, "You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love", is scheduled to be released this Friday. Although the song list has been announced earlier, Robert Smith's name was deliberately not included in the title of the song "What's Wrong With Me" to maintain the element of surprise.

The song "What's Wrong With Me" itself is categorized as part of the melancholy section of the album, even though it is packaged with a cheerful and upbeat pop music tone.

The lyrics describe a moment of deep realization from the narrator that his current romantic relationship is the main source of problems in his life, despite all the hopes and good intentions that have been tried.