“It’s moments like that where I feel music is just so magical that you just can’t really describe it,” singer says of playing iconic U.K. fest
Olivia Rodrigo revealed in a new interview that she nearly suffered an “anxiety attack” before her headlining performance at Glastonbury in 2025.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of her new album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love — and fresh off a surprise set at this week’s Primavera Sound in Barcelona — Rodrigo talked about her stress of headlining the U.K.’s most iconic festival prior to taking the stage.
“I remember having a near-anxiety attack in the bathroom, like, ‘How am I going to do this? I don’t know if I’m ready,’” Rodrigo said. “But something overcame me the second I stepped on stage and started singing. I felt totally calm and so in my element. I’m not very spiritual or religious, but it’s moments like that where I feel music is just so magical that you just can’t really describe it.”
Rodrigo, who previously performed at on a smaller Glastonbury stage in 2022, added that the headlining performance became “probably the best weekend” of her life, thanks in part to sharing the stage with the Cure’s Robert Smith; that singer ended up becoming a huge influence on You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.
“I have such a reverence for the festival and the incredible heritage and artists that have played on that stage, so I put so much love and care into that set and spent so much time thinking about it,” Rodrigo said of Glastonbury. “The fact that it translated it was totally a dream come true.”
At Primavera Sound, Rodrigo reunited with Smith to debut her new album’s “What’s Wrong With Me,” a duet with the Cure singer. The band’s “Just Like Heaven” was also name-checked on the opening single “Drop Dead,” and a second single was titled “The Cure.” You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love arrives Friday.
