Olivia O’Brien Is On A Roll

Recently, Olivia O’Brien and her team have been on a marketing and PR roll. As an up-and-coming artist, O’Brien has successfully drawn attention to not only herself but her songs.

At the beginning of the year, O’Brien announced a contest on TikTok for users to design the cover for her newest single “B*tches These Days.” Her team posted a variety of photos of her that portrayed the vibe of the song along with a clip from the chorus. For weeks, professional graphic designers, fans, and people with an iPad posted their submissions. The contest accumulated thousands of different designs. As someone who does not follow O’Brien, my for you page was filled with contestants’ videos and the single was stuck in my head. Through this campaign, O’Brien directly interacted with and expanded her audience. 

Eventually, O’Brien and her team picked a really neat cover that resembles a senior-year page in a yearbook. As expected, O’Brien got some hate for this decision, as many believed there were better options. But at the end of the day, O’Brien has her vision for the single and picked what she thought represented that vision best. I personally love the cover. O’Brien also paid the winner for their work.

In addition to the “B*tches These Days” cover, Olivia O’Brien made headlines for her Coachella performance. For the first weekend of Coachella, O’Brien had Logan Paul as a guest on stage at the end of her set. This special guest seems random without context, as Logan is not a singer. However, fans in person and online of O’Brien or Paul freaked out when Logan walked on stage. O'Brien's first hit, “Josslyn,” is famously about Logan Paul cheating on her with “Josslyn.” Fans have speculated Josslyn to be either Alex Cooper of the Call Her Daddy or Logan’s now ex-girlfriend Josie Conseco. However, O’Brien and Paul have remained friends despite their drama and have hinted at having some level of a romantic relationship over the years. The song's hook goes, “I hope that it was worth it f**king Josslyn.” O’Brien’s album is even called “I Hope That It Was Worth It.” As O’Brien wrapped up the song, Paul smugly walked on stage and held up a sign that read, “It wasn’t worth it.” As Paul held up the sign, everyone went wild. Because O’Brien’s set was earlier in the day, the people that were there were mostly there for her. The audience then posted the videos on social media and got both Paul and O’Brien’s fans buzzing.

In my opinion, this is a great PR move. Not only is it genuine, but this move publicly addresses their rumored relationship. In pop culture, the possibility of romantic relationships reigns as the most exciting news. A relationship can be such great press that celebrities often fake them. This move between O’Brien and Paul sent a message to fans that the two still support each other and that Paul might still be interested in O’Brien. Although most already assumed there was still something going on, this display is still exciting. 

From both the campaign for her new single and Coachella performance, O’Brien and her team have generated buzz around her and have exposed her to a wider audience by giving people something to talk about. This all very good timing, for Olivia is scheduled to go on tour later this year and has tickets on sale now.