There isn’t much the generation-defining pop mastermind hasn’t done in 2026. She released her third studio album and is days away from the first edition of her Lilith Fair-inspired festival, Daisy Chain Fields. Even the design of a new collection of album-themed LEGO sets is stacked under her belt, as she sits down with Wonderland to unpack it all.
“When have adults become so boring?” I’m thinking to myself minutes before joining Olivia Rodrigo on Zoom on a very early New York morning, her side of the pond. We’re connecting to discuss her latest endeavour – a new collection of five LEGO sets designed as part of the rollout of her latest album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, shared on 12th June, as a way to bring her fans even closer to her world.
Truth be told, nothing about Rodrigo is boring. In fact, she’s been part of some of the happiest memories of my (and yours, I’m sure) summer. Uncountable evenings spent with friends belting out “maggots for brains”; her surprise set at Primavera Sound with a performance of her then-yet-to-be-debuted first-ever collaboration with The Cure’s Robert Smith; other, equally endless evenings reminiscing about yesteryear’s Glastonbury (her first headline at the festival). But why can’t I remember the last time I played with a LEGO set?
Slumber parties. Park birthdays. Baking sessions. So much of childhood is lost during this so-called coming-of-age process that could, arguably, make adulting a little less painful. But it seems like some of us – Olivia being perhaps the master of that – succeed in staying in contact with their inner child, and can teach us a thing or two about loosening up. “I don’t remember my first experience with LEGO bricks, but one of my most recent experiences is that they have a Twilight set where you can build the houses from [the film]. And I purchased those, and I’m loving those,” she says with a giggle. An important question follows, naturally. “I’m so Team Edward, always been Team Edward. I live and die by that.”
you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, Rodrigo’s third studio album, is a delightful body of work that follows her 2021 breakthrough SOUR and 2023’s GUTS, and sees love taking on a new shape under her creative direction. Lyrically, it’s a window to a maturing perspective on life and relationships, without losing any of the infectious sounds that will have lover girls dancing on the streets like nobody’s watching. That’s a power she wears confidently on her sleeve – and this weekend (29th August), it will be spread over Californian grounds for the first edition of Daisy Chain Fields, her very own charitable festival, packed with a starred women-led bill inspired by the Lilith Fair.
As she sits down with Wonderland to discuss the collaboration, designing the new LEGO sets and the summer of 2026, she unpacks her third album’s nuanced journey on what love can be, cover hits, and expectations for her festival’s stacked lineup, featuring friends and personal heroes. Keep scrolling…
Olivia! The last time I saw you was on stage during your surprise set at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. What a lovely surprise that was.
Oh my God. I loved that day. I had a really awesome time.
What do you love most about this new campaign, and what has it been like working with the LEGO Group on this project?
It’s been so fun to incorporate little details of my tours and my album campaigns into these sets. I love miniature things, and I love toys that you get to play with your hands and things that aren’t digital. And so it’s really fun to get to create these sets with them.
If you could build anything out of LEGO bricks that hasn’t been created yet, what would it be?
That’s a great question. I’m just always surprised at the ingenuity and the engineering behind all these LEGO sets. One of the LEGO sets that we did is a record player, and it actually spins, which is so mind-boggling to me. So I don’t know. [Maybe] a camera case or something that really stressed the engineering. Something you could take a picture with. I don’t know.
If you were to host a LEGO building session, who would you invite?
I’d invite all my friends. I’d invite my friend Jamie because she’s very creative, [and] my friend Conan is very artsy and has a good eye for stuff like that. I’d probably invite both of them and hope that their artistic prowess is greater than my own.
We’re all so obsessed with the album. It’s been on constant rotation at the Wonderland office, and my best friend and I did a street karaoke session in Hackney the other day, singing along to the album, and had the time of our lives. But that got me thinking – what’s the dream scenario you’d love to have your album soundtracking?
Oh my gosh, where in Hackney were you guys? I love Hackney.
We were just off Mare Street. It’s been the highlight of our summer.
Oh, that’s incredible. I mean, a pub night would be an amazing place for it to be played. I would die for that. I also said when I made the album that the ideal way for people to listen to it for me was to go to a drive-through, which I guess is a very American thing, but go to a drive-through with their friends in the car and eat hamburgers and milkshakes and listen to it front to back. That’s how I always listen to albums that I’m eagerly anticipating. So yeah, that would be awesome. I love listening to music in the car.
Do you have an all-time favourite, happiness-inducing, sing-out-loud song?
Any ABBA song I think, is such a pick-me-up song. I love “Dancing Queen”, whenever that plays in the club I go crazy. Obviously, [Robyn’s] “Dancing On My Own”, that song just instantly picks me up and I start singing and dancing. So probably those two.
Great choices. We were on such a high after your CMAT cover a couple of months ago. I also love that Role Model covered your song “maggots for brains” yesterday. I don’t know if you had time to see it, but it was amazing.
I know. I saw that. It’s so exciting to have people cover your songs. It’s like the coolest thing ever. Role Model covered “maggots for brains”, and Sienna Spiro covered my song “less” the other day. It was just so much fun, and it’s so flattering because I think both of them are incredible artists, and to get to see their take on the song is really special.
What’s another song on your list that you would love to cover at some point?
I’ve been listening to Ariana’s album [petal] a lot, so maybe something from Ariana’s album.
What has working on this album taught you the most, and what would you tell pre-you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love Olivia about this journey?
It’s taught me so much. I think one of the things that it’s taught me in my creative life and in my personal life is how nuanced romantic love can be. I think before I made this album, I kind of thought of love in very black-and-white terms. And I think this album really taught me to, you know, to see things as they are and… I don’t know, it was really challenging and really joyful. I would do it all over again if I could. It was a really beautiful experience.
We’re so looking forward to Daisy Chain Fields. Tell me a little bit about some of your festival essentials. I know you love Glasto as much as we do – your set last year was so much fun. What makes a good festival headline set for you?
Oh my gosh, yeah, Glasto was incredible. I feel like Daisy Chain Fields is going to be such a magical day. I literally can’t wait. I mean, I’m just so excited for all of the artists. There are so many of my friends and my heroes [on the lineup], and I can’t wait to watch all of the sets, and I just think they’re incredible human beings also because they are donating their time and doing this completely for free and for charity. Everything about it is just incredible and very special.
My essentials – I mean, good friends around me. I really hope people wear flowers in their hands, flower crowns for Daisy Chain Fields because I just think it goes with the name and… comfortable shoes. I feel like everyone needs to be really comfortable going to this festival because they’re not going to be thinking about their outfit. They’re going to be wanting to think about the music and all these organisations that we’re representing and [are] benefiting from this festival. So it’s going to be really awesome.
Words – Sofia Ferreira
