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The Cure singer Robert Smith has shared that he recently spent time recording with Olivia Rodrigo and also spoke highly about her as an artist.
Smith joined Rodrigo onstage as a surprise guest during her headline performance at Glastonbury 2025, where they performed The Cure favourites ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Just Like Heaven’ together.
During the show, Rodrigo introduced Smith as “perhaps the greatest songwriter to come out of England” and described him as “a personal hero of mine”. Since then, she has also mentioned that she has been exploring more of The Cure’s back catalogue.
As excitement continues to build around Rodrigo’s next era, she has appeared as the cover star of the newest issue of British Vogue. Within the feature, Smith explained how he first became interested in her music after hearing her breakout single ‘Drivers License’.
He told the magazine that he later “bought ‘Sour’, and then ‘Guts’ (both on CD!)”.
“Although most of the songs on those two albums are not really ‘aimed at my demographic’, they are all so good that it is hard not to fall in love with them,” Smith wrote in the feature.
He also explained that the pair have stayed in touch since sharing the Glastonbury stage and suggested that they may work together again in the future.“She calls me up quite a bit to talk about clothes and fashion and we have enjoyed a couple of memorable nights in the studio together,” Smith added. “I can’t wait to hear what she does next!”
Rodrigo has recently been hinting at her third album through pink themed promotional campaigns in both Los Angeles and London, suggesting that new music could arrive as soon as next month. British Vogue described the forthcoming project as her “most experimental” release so far.
Speaking with the magazine, she explained that the follow up to ‘Guts’ includes a number of emotional love songs. “I realised all my favourite romantic love songs were beautiful because they had a tinge of fear or yearning in them,” she said.
Rodrigo said: “I’ve found a lot of inspiration from being in London. I’ve spent so much time here over the course of making this album. It has a lot of songs that are London vibes, about experiences that I’ve had here.
“It was a creative challenge to write from a joyful place. When you’re experiencing that you’re connected to someone, or feeling really good, you’re not in your head thinking about bittersweet poems!”
Last year, Rodrigo also released recordings of her live performances with Smith as part of the album ‘Live From Glastonbury 2025’.
Not long after Glastonbury 2025, she posted photos from Worthy Farm, including one showing her spending time backstage with Smith and another where she was seen heading to sleep wearing a Cure shirt. She was also filmed sitting on someone’s shoulders during Pulp’s surprise performance.
Back in 2023, Rodrigo spoke about attending concerts by The Cure and Depeche Mode with her father. The Vogue profile also mentioned that her parents introduced her to music rooted in grunge, rock and alternative styles, highlighting artists such as No Doubt, The White Stripes, Eighties metal and Riot Grrrl.
She has also cited “some of [The Cure’s] contemporaries like New Order and Joy Division” as influences on her sound.
In an earlier interview with NME in 2021, Rodrigo said both of her parents were passionate about music and had supported her creativity from a young age.
“I love pop punk music I love grunge music I love country music and folk music,” she said at the time. “I think honestly you can see little influences of all of those genres in my [debut] album [‘Sour’].”
During last summer, Rodrigo surprised fans by bringing Weezer onstage during her Lollapalooza performance in Chicago. She also welcomed David Byrne to perform with her at Governors Ball in New York City.
Following that appearance, Byrne praised the connection she has with her fanbase. “Not only do they know the songs,” he said, “they mean something to them.”
Meanwhile, Rodrigo has also contributed a track to the upcoming charity compilation ‘Help(2)’ in support of War Child.
The Cure picked up their first Grammy Award last month for their 2024 album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. Next week will also see the Robert Smith curated Teenage Cancer Trust concert series take place at London’s Royal Albert Hall, featuring artists including Garbage, Wolf Alice, Manic Street Preachers, Chvrches and My Bloody Valentine.
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Justin Bieber’s $10 million payday for Coachella this year makes him the highest paid out of the three headliners. With that kind of deal in place, it always felt unlikely that he would step away from the festival. Even so, having a backup option is part of the industry since nothing is ever completely certain.
There was still some hesitation surrounding Bieber, especially because of the health struggles he has dealt with recently, both physically and mentally. Because of that, people online started speculating about who could potentially step in for the Canadian star.
SZA’s name quickly became part of that conversation, with rumors claiming she had been chosen as his backup. Some of those reports even suggested she was being offered a large amount of money to take on that role.
More specifically, the claim was that she would receive a six figure payment to act as his emergency replacement.
But according to the SOS artist herself, none of that is true.
As noted by Buzzing Pop and Bossip, the TDE signee responded directly under a post spreading the rumor and shut it down. “Lmao who made this up? I've seen this 4 times now. I'm in New York no one paid me a dime. Wishing everyone the best [red heart emoji],” she wrote.
It is possible she is currently in New York working on her next album, which she has been teasing in recent weeks.
Overall, it does not seem like SZA took any offense to the situation. She simply wanted to clear things up and stop the rumor from spreading further.
It also appears she is showing support for Justin Bieber, whose first of two Coachella performances has sparked mixed reactions.
If you missed it, midway through his set, the hitmaker pulled out his MacBook and played a series of music videos from his earlier catalog.
Some viewers criticized the moment, calling it unprofessional and lacking effort, while others saw it as something more personal and nostalgic. Many longtime fans have followed Bieber since his early years, so watching him revisit that era felt meaningful for those who have stayed with him.
Even with the divided opinions, there is still a lot of curiosity around what he will bring to the stage for his next performance this coming Saturday.
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