* En anglais uniquement
California's
Olivia O'Brien is a vocalist with a bent toward dance-oriented electronic pop and emotive balladry.
O'Brien made her breakthrough in the late 2010s on her collaboration with
gnash, "i hate u, i love u," which peaked in the Top Ten of the Hot 100. This paved the way for her debut album, 2019's
Was It Even Real?, as well as EPs like 2020's The Results of My Poor Judgement and 2021's
Episodes: Season 1.
Born in Thousand Oaks, California, in 1999,
O'Brien grew up singing from a young age and taught herself to play guitar and piano. By her teens she was writing her own songs, as well as posting covers online. Eventually, she caught the ear of Los Angeles-based singer/rapper/producer
gnash, whose song "Disposable" she had covered. He requested to hear her original material, and they began collaborating. In 2015, they posted their version of her song "i hate u, i love you" online. The following year,
gnash included the song on his debut EP,
us, and released it commercially as a single. It immediately caught on, hitting number one in Australia and landing in the Top Ten in the U.S.
In August of 2016,
O'Brien released her debut solo single, "Trust Issues." Several more singles followed, including "Root Beer Float" featuring
Blackbear, "Find What You're Looking For," "Empty," and "RIP." The latter two tracks appeared on her 2017 EP
It's Not That Deep (Island). The following year, she hopped onto "Beg" with
Jack & Jack, later recruiting
G-Eazy and
Drew Love for a remix of "RIP."
Late 2018 saw the arrival of the singles "UDK," "I Don't Exist," and "I Care More" ahead of the release of her first full-length effort,
Was It Even Real?, which arrived in spring 2019. In 2020,
O'Brien stayed busy releasing a handful of EPs, including The Results of My Poor Judgement, Josslyn, and
Hope That It Was Worth It. During the early months of 2021, she delivered several singles including "Better Than Feeling Lonely" and "Sociopath," the latter of which was included on her fourth EP,
Episodes: Season 1, along with the song "No More Friends" featuring
Oliver Sykes of
Bring Me the Horizon. ~ Matt Collar