Olivia Gail O'Brien[1] (born November 26, 1999) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame in 2016 after collaborating withGnash on the single "I Hate U, I Love U", which peaked at number 10 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in the United States and number one in Australia. The success resulted in a recording contract withIsland Records, with whom she released twoextended plays, threemixtapes, and her debut studio albumWas It Even Real? (2019).
Olivia Gail O'Brien[1] was born on November 26, 1999, inThousand Oaks,California.[2] She has been singing since she was seven years old, and taught herself to play guitar and piano.[2] She attendedJustin-Siena High School inNapa, California.[3] She also skipped third grade and attended Montessori and Catholic schools in her youth.[4] O'Brien also was bullied as a teenager, some of it stemming from her social class and the fact she was creating music.[4]
O'Brien initially gained the attention ofGnash after posting a cover of one of his songs onSoundCloud, after beginning to create music at the age of 13.[5] Gnash reached out to O'Brien, expressing interest in her material, and asked for her to send him any original songs that she had. O'Brien then sent a voice note of her original song, "I Hate U, Love U", and he invited her to record the song with him inLos Angeles.[6][3] "I Hate U, I Love U" (stylized inlowercase) was released in March 2016, and appears on Gnash's third EP titledUs.[7] The single peaked at number 10 on theBillboard Hot 100 and reached number one inAustralia.[8] Thereafter, O'Brien signed withIsland Records and released her debut solo single, "Trust Issues", in August 2016, which premiered throughComplex magazine.[9][10] Her second single, "Root Beer Float" featuringBlackbear, premiered on September 15, 2016.[11] O'Brien released a third single, "Find What You're Looking For", in October 2016.[12] O'Brien released "Hate U, Love U" as a single in December, the original solo version of "I Hate U, I Love U".[13][14] O'Brien also released an acoustic video for the song on December 20, 2016.[15] O'Brien made her television debut in July 2016 with Gnash performing "I Hate U, I Love U" onLate Night with Seth Meyers.[16] O'Brien and Gnash made their second television performance on September 19, 2016, performing "i hate u, i love u" onToday.[17]
In February 2017, O'Brien released "Empty" as the lead single from her debut extended play.[18] In March 2017, O'Brien was nominated for aniHeartRadio Music Award for Best Solo Breakout, but lost toZayn Malik.[19] She released the next single from the EP in July, "RIP", with accompanying music video.[20][21] The third single, "No Love", followed in November along with her debut extended play,It's Not That Deep.[22] O'Brien featured in the acoustic version ofJack & Jack's single "Beg", released in January 2018.[23] In June 2018, a remix of "RIP" was released with the collaboration ofG-Eazy andDrew Love.[24] In August 2018, "UDK" was released as the first promotional single from O'Brien's debut studio album.[25] O'Brien released the lead single, "I Don't Exist", in September, followed by "Care Less More" in November, both with accompanying music videos.[26] The third single, "Love Myself", was released on February 1, 2019.[27] In March, O'Brien announced that her debut studio album,Was It Even Real?, was scheduled for release on April 26, 2019. She then released "Just Friends" as the second promotional single, and "Just a Boy", as the final single before the release of the album.[28] In May 2019, O'Brien collaborated with the Norwegian groupSeeb on "Fade Out".[29] The single was accompanied by a music video.[30]
On November 15, 2019, she released a project calledIt Was a Sad Fucking Summer as the first release from a series of "micro-mixtapes" leading to her next album.[31] She also announced a tour, It Was a Sad F**king Tour, beginning in February 2020.[32] On February 6, 2020, O'Brien released her second micro-mixtape,The Results Of My Poor Judgement.[33] In April 2020, O'Brien was set to perform atCoachella Festival, which was later canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[34] A track from the tape called "Josslyn" gained traction on streaming services and radio airplay when users onTikTok began doing dance challenges to the song.[35] A "quarantine" music video shot at O'Brien's house in isolation during theCOVID-19 pandemic was released on May 8.[36] The single would be re-released on theJosslyn EP which included the original version of the song, a remix, ademo of the song and aradio edit on May 15.[37] A remix with rapper24kGoldn was released on May 22,[38] whilst the original song was serviced to top 40 radio formats on June 2.[39]
On September 18, 2020, O'Brien released a single titled "Now" along with a music video.[40]
O'Brien released the single, "Better Than Feeling Lonely" on January 1, 2021.[41] On April 9, 2021, O'Brien released "Sociopath" as the lead single for her scrapped album following an online fan vote between it and "Bitch Back", which was later released, featuringFLETCHER on August 5, 2022.[42][43][44] The first part of what would have been her second studio album was released on June 11, 2021, under the nameEpisodes: Season 1.[45] The track "No More Friends" features fromOli Sykes.[46] To support the project, O'Brien embarked on The Olivia O'Brien Show tour in the fall of 2021.[47] However, Olivia decided to take a step back on the release of the second half of the album for now, saying she "[doesn't] want to worry about making a project right now", and that she's "just putting out songs at this point" on the Zach Sang Show.[48] However, she has also said that "if at some point [her team and her] want to compile [the upcoming songs] together", they could make that compilation intoEpisodes: Season 2.
2023–present:Love & Limerence andEverywhere I Go, There I Am
In March 2023, O'Brien announced viaTikTok that she had left Island Records as a result of a variety of creative differences.[49] She released three singles as an independent artist throughout that year, including "Born With a Broken Heart", "I Should've Fucked Your Brother", and "Bandaid On A Bullet Hole."[50][51] In 2024, O'Brien launched an independent record label named Girlhood Records, with distribution throughWarner Music Group'sADA, and released the extended playsLove & Limerence andEverywhere I Go, There I Am.[52]
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