Olivia Rodrigo delivers edgy pop master class at sold-out Little Caesars Arena in Detroit

Pop music needed Olivia Rodrigo.

Three years after the gifted artist’s global breakout, her music captures its own slice of the youthful zeitgeist — a post-pandemic sound that is wounded but ultimately hopeful, biting but rarely cynical.

Rodrigo and her creative charms were on full display Saturday night at a very sold-out Little Caesars Arena, where the 21-year-old star waged a galvanizing 105-minute show as she hit Detroit a month into her lengthy Guts World Tour.

Rodrigo’s music is brimming with ’80s pop winks and ’90s alt-rock nods, but her LCA show was a thoroughly 2024 affair — a super-hot ticket and cultural moment that even prompted a “Welcome to Detroit” social-media post Saturday afternoon from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

For all the young angst coursing through the lyrics — heartache, insecurity, revenge urges, the weight of social expectations — Rodrigo in concert is a joyous, vivacious affair. Saturday’s production was crisp but not overthought, largely eschewing the high-tech bells and whistles that adorn most modern pop extravaganzas. Her mid-show journey across the arena, which had her nestled in a glowing crescent moon overhead, was the show’s fanciest frill.

Backed by a five-piece band and pair of backing singers, Rodrigo was also occasionally joined by an eight-member dance troupe, and while the choreography was tight, it was an embellishment rather than the driving energy of a show whose real impact came from its smartly crafted songs and emotional oomph.

“I want you to scream! I want you to jump!” Rodrigo exhorted the crowd at one point.

She needn’t have asked: Fans had already been doing their part from the show’s opening stretch, pogo-ing to the energetic bounce of “Bad Idea Right?” and “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl,” singing along in full voice to “Vampire” and “Traitor.”

In spring 2022, just around the corner from LCA, Rodrigo made her Detroit debut with an impressive Masonic Temple Theatre show during her initial burst of success. Having now jumped to arenas on the heels of “Guts,” her recent sophomore album, Rodrigo’s performance on the big stage Saturday was comfortable and confident but never distant.

Twice she ventured down to interact with fans, some of them breaking into in tears as she briskly snapped selfies, slapped hands and gathered armfuls of flower bouquets. That intimate bond also went big, as when the arena gleamed with cellphone lights for the musically tender “Making the Bed” and “Happier,” softer moments amid the swells of rock-tinged pop euphoria.

Since Rodrigo’s Grammy-winning 2021 debut record, “Sour,” her conversational, sharply detailed coming-of-age sketches have won over legions of fans tween, teen and up — a cause aided by the delectable melodies that were front and center Saturday in songs like “Happier,” “Drivers License” and “Deja Vu.” The subject matter might get filed under Young Adult, but in the hands of Rodrigo, artistically mature beyond her years, the results can be powerful.

Vocally, Rodrigo has a breathy, vowel-bending delivery that can swoop into a full-tilt belt; as a performer, her acting background serves her well, including quick and subtle mannerisms — a pout here, an arched eyebrow there — that accentuate the musical mood. Risqué touches popped up Saturday (“Obsessed,” “Love is Embarrassing”), although they were spare and fleeting, much like the profanities that occasionally precision-bombed the proceedings.

Rodrigo’s favorite retro decade, the 1990s, got saluted with a selection of preshow PA music that included riot grrrl bands such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. Those punky underground influences made their way into her own music onstage, even if her approach was less snarling girl-power than buoyant girl uplift.

Rodrigo’s Hollywood experience aside, there’s an authenticity and natural relatability to her presence. Pop music’s allure is its immediacy, and inside an arena, it’s designed to feel larger than life. But at LCA on Saturday, amid the glitter and the confetti and the magnetic choruses, it was clear there’s a genuine depth to go with the polished theater.

Gaggles of young female friends and mom-daughter combos packed the arena. Out on the buzzing concourse ahead of showtime, the long merch-booth lines were a medley of tiaras and crop tops, sequined skirts and a whole bunch of purple — Rodrigo’s signature color.

Rodrigo has embraced a growing activist role, and a portion of this tour’s proceeds is going to her nonprofit group, Fund 4 You, recently launched in the name of women’s rights. In one corner of the LCA concourse were booths offering voter registration and materials from the National Network of Abortion Funds, though there were no indications of the condom giveaways that generated controversy at one earlier tour stop.

Whitmer’s Saturday post — which followed the governor’s welcome video last summer for Taylor Swift — applauded Rodrigo’s efforts while punning off several of her hit song titles.

“Olivia, your voice resonates with so many, not just through your music but through your advocacy,” Whitmer said.

Saturday’s 23-song set included nearly every track from “Sour” and “Guts,” and it’s a testament to the strength of those two albums that Saturday’s show rarely sagged.

The LCA show sizzled to a finale with a rock-heavy vibe, as “Brutal,” “Obsessed” and “All-American Bitch” punctuated the close of the regular set.

Rodrigo launched her encore with “Good 4 U,” the 2021 song that perhaps best foreshadowed the sound of her next album, before capping it with the rollicking, hollering new tune “Get Him Back.” Where Rodrigo’s evolution takes her next remains to be seen, but undoubtedly it’ll be fun and rewarding to watch.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Olivia Rodrigo delivers edgy pop master class at sold-out LCA show