Olivia Rodrigo loves Robert Smith. Last year she called him a “personal hero of mine” before bringing him out for some songs at Glastonbury, and her you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love lead single “drop dead” mentions the Cure’s 1987 hit “Just Like Heaven.” If that isn’t enough, the second album single was literally called “the cure.” Last night, the pop star did a surprise set at Primavera Sound and was joined by Robert Smith to debut their new collab “what’s wrong with me.”
Rodrigo had been hinting at her performance at the Barcelona music festival and announced it just hours before. Meanwhile, the Cure had headlined the previous night, breaking out rarities for the occasion. Onstage, Rodrigo said about the song, “It’s really really special to me for so many reasons but primarily because it’s my first song that I’ve ever done a feature on which is really exciting. It’s my first collaboration and I’m so proud of it and I can’t believe that this song exists with the person that it exists with and I’m just so fuckin’ over the moon.”
Afterward, on Instagram, she added, “what’s wrong with me featuring Robert Smith will be out June 12 with the album. I am still in disbelief that Robert who is in my eyes one of the most brilliant, legendary, wonderful people to ever exist is on this record with me. I had the most memorable evening singing it with him at primavera tonight and I cannot wait for this song and record to be yours. 5 days holy shit!!!!”
I think it’s safe to say Rodrigo prefers the Cure over the Smiths (can any pop star try to pull this with Morrissey? Sabrina Carpenter?). “what’s wrong with me” is very ’80s-inspired — forlorn and dreamy in that “Pictures Of You” kind of way — and Robert Smith’s voice fits right in. Their harmonies, though, are uniquely beautiful. Watch the performance below.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
