From The Times:
When Olivia Rodrigo met David, Lily and Rob — the art of the surprise guest
From the Glastonbury headliner to Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa, why every pop diva needs a throwback cameo in summer 2025
Will Hodgkinson
One surprise appearance really was a big surprise at Glastonbury. While everyone knew about the so-called secret sets by Pulp, Haim and Lewis Capaldi, absolutely nobody suspected that Robert Smith was to join the American pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo during her Sunday night headline slot, for a rendition of the Cure’s Just Like Heaven and Friday I’m in Love.
“Nobody even spotted him driving in,” says Julian Stockton, earthly representative of Robert Smith and the Cure, who found out himself only when he was watching Rodrigo’s set at home on television. “Robert has no manager, so Olivia must have asked him directly. Her dad is a massive Cure fan, so it is a classic case of a parent’s record collection rubbing off on the child.”
It was quite a duet: a super-perky 22-year-old former Disney child star and the raven-haired 66-year-old godfather of the misunderstood. How did it happen? “We did make up a list of potential guest spots for Olivia, but Robert Smith wasn’t on it, so the request must have come from her,” a source close to Rodrigo confirms. “It made for a moment nobody expected but everyone will remember.”
