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“That’s truly the craziest thing that ever happened to me,” Olivia Rodrigo said following the surprise appearance of Alanis Morissette during Rodrigo’s show at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on Tuesday (May 24). Olivia, 19, brought out Alanis, 47, to the shock of the fans gathered to see the “good 4 u” singer’s concert, per Variety. Olivia and Alanis performed “You Oughta Know,” the breakthrough single from Morissette’s 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill. The two traded verses before joining together on the chorus.
This show wasn’t the first time that Olivia and Alanis crossed paths. The two interviewed each other for Rolling Stone’s “Musicians On Musicians” issue in 2021. The feature highlighted their similarities, as both are child actors (Olivia on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Alanis on You Can’t Do That On Television) who experienced widespread fame after shifting their focus to music. “I love how you’re so honest and talk about stuff that normally isn’t talked about in songwriting,” Olivia told Alanis. “Well, you’re doing the same,” replied the “Ironic” singer.
“I remember having my mind blown when I was 13. I was in the car with my parents listening to Jagged Little Pill. I remember hearing ‘Perfect,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I told my music teacher a couple [of] days after: ‘You can write songs like that?’ I just looked at music and songwriting in a completely different way,” Olivia said of Alanis’s influence. “I just think that’s something me and all of my friends had felt so acutely for so long, and I’d never heard somebody talk about it — even in general, in conversation, and definitely never in a song that’s so popular.”
During Tuesday’s show, Olivia reflected on the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead. “Though I’m so excited to be here tonight, I’m so, so devastated about the shooting that happened in Texas today,” said Olivia. “We should never have to worry about our safety or our lives in places that are dedicated to our learning and growing. I’m so heartbroken that this is the reality we’re living in, and we need stricter gun control laws.”