As everyone knows, Olivia Rodrigo has become an overnight sensation with her song, “drivers license”. Her instant bop has gotten her to the top of the Billboard Charts and on the global radar. Of course, that doesn’t come without a little pushback.

Recently, Rodrigo has been criticized for writing about her personal experience in her alleged love triangle with “High School Musical: The Musical The Series” co-star, Joshua Bassett, and former Disney star, Sabrina Carpenter.

Critics and listeners of the single stated that the song is nothing more than a teenage girl diary entry about boy problems and drama. They also mentioned Rodrigo should attempt to reach a deeper meaning with her song lyrics. I don’t know how she could get even more vulnerable than that.

This sounds all too familiar. Taylor Swift received the same criticism since the release of her debut album back in 2006, and is still dealing with it now. It is almost as if the music industry is a little sexist and misogynistic. To this day, Swift is faced with sexist jokes with the most prevalent being the, “don’t date her unless you want a song written about you,” joke.

Why is it socially acceptable for Ed Sheeran and Drake to make music about love and their relationship problems? But the second a woman does it, they’re ridiculed and labeled as dramatic. The criticism is obviously rooted in gender stereotypes that push harmful ideologies on young and impressionable people. It just further proves that no matter what teen girls do, they are always going to be criticized, ridiculed and shamed by the media or the people in their lives. They are always reduced to being dramatic instead of passionate.

For example, when men cry at sporting events because their favorite team won, they’re deemed as passionate. But when a girl does it at a concert, she is labeled as dramatic and ridiculous. WHAT? Make it make sense, please.

One of the saddest things is, it doesn’t stop there. When a girl expresses her interest in a subject similar to Marvel or games, men suddenly become experts in the subject and give the girls a pop quiz to really test their knowledge and how true of a fan they are. That is complete bullshit. Who ever deemed these men as qualified to do so?

JUST LEAVE TEEN GIRLS ALONE!

Why do people feel the need to invalidate something because teenage girls like it or create it? Shouldn’t we be supporting and uplifting them?

Let them write songs about their break-ups. Let them decide what they want to look like.

Let’s end the culture of bullying them.

In the wise words of Harry Styles, “[Teenage girls are] our future. Our future doctors, lawyers, mothers, presidents, they kind of keep the world going.”