Olivia Rodrigo Snuck Out While Filming HSMTMTS to Record the 'Happier' Chorus

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You truly never know what you are going to experience at an Olivia Rodrigo concert. Since kicking off her world tour in February, the star has given us anything from surprise duets to deluxe album announcements and backstage reunions and now the backstory for one of her most beloved songs.

During the Madrid stop of her GUTS world tour on June 20, 2024, Olivia Rodrigo let the audience in attendance in on the secret genesis of her song “Happier,” off her debut solo album SOUR.

A little bit over halfway into the show, Rodrigo is joined by her guitarist Daisy Spencer for an acoustic sitdown segment where the duo perform “happier" and “favorite crime” on the edge of her extended stage.

As she was making her way to the edge of the stage in Madrid, Rodrigo had a candid moment with the audience, recalling how she actually came up with the main line for the song — “I hope you're happy, but don't be happier” — in the spur of the moment when she was working on a certain TV show and, when inspiration strikes, you need to take matters into your own hands, even if that means sneaking out of work.

“I thought this idea was kind of good, and I was really worried that if I didn't write it down, I would forget it — just never remember it again — so I was in the middle of a scene, and I lied," Rodrigo confessed to her Madrid crowd. “I told the director that I had to pee, that I was going to pee my pants if she didn't let me out of the scene. She was like, 'Ok, go do your thing. Whatever."

After getting permission with the little white lie, Rodrigo sprinted out set. “I ran, I grabbed my phone, and I recorded the very first chorus of this song," the singer-songwriter said, introducing “happier,” adding: “I feel a little bad, probably not the most professional, honest moment of my acting career but I got this song out of it and now I get to sing it with you guys so all's well that ends well, I guess.”

Though Rodrigo did not namecheck which show it was given that Bizaardvark wrapped filming in 2018, and she did not start working on SOUR until 2019, it's not hard to infer she was referring to HSMTMTS.

Speaking to Teen Vogue, Rodrigo had actually admitted “happier” was the first song on the album that she wrote when she was 16 (so, doing maths, in 2019), but she gave us a more sugarcoated version of the story, opting to omit the fact that she told a white lie to sneak out of the set in favor of a simple “wrote it in between takes of a dance number.”

You can hear that story and more firsts below:

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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