Olivia Rodrigo Taps Chappell Roan (and David Byrne) for Retro ‘Expectations’ Remix

By Angie Martoccio

Angie Martoccio

It’s official: Olivia Rodrigo has dropped her first-ever remix, featuring Chappell Roan. The duo take us back to the Eighties for a vibrant rendition of “Expectations.”

The video features a retro game show, as the two stars compete on “The Big Expectations Show. “Oh, Olivia does remixes now,” Roan says at the beginning of the video, which includes campy takes on Family Feud. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne makes a delightful cameo as the fictional host Johnny Johnson, while producer Dan Nigro features in the video as well.

Roan also adds an new verse to the song, slightly changing the lyrics to reference a mediocre female suitor alongside Rodrigo’s original lines.

Rodrigo and Roan both work with Nigro, and have collaborated together several times over the years. Roan opened for Rodrigo on the Sour Tour (2022) and Guts World Tour (2024), and performed Roan’s “Hot to Go!” onstage together in Los Angeles. Roan recently headlined Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields Festival, and appeared on Rolling Stone‘s digital cover celebrating the occasion.

“I remember her walking into the studio one day and just flat-out saying ‘I don’t give a fuck about what people say anymore. If I like it, then it’s good,’ ” Rodrigo said of Roan. “I could tell she actually meant it, too. That’s her magic.”

Rodrigo released “Expectations” earlier this year, off her stellar new album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. It marks her third album — after her 2021 debut Sour and 2024’s Guts — and her third LP to debut at Number One. Rodrigo held Daisy Chain on Aug. 29 in Great Park in Irvine, CA. The groundbreaking festival raised $10 million in donations benefitting women and girls, which was then doubled by philanthropist Melinda French Gates, making it $20 million.

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