Olivia Holt on Performing for 'Bachelor in Paradise' and What’s Next for 'Cruel Summer'

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In 2019, it seemed as if Olivia Holt had found something like freedom. She landed a leading role beside Aubrey Joseph on the Freeform hit Cloak & Dagger, a Marvel cross-over series. The sci-fi-infused romance, while undoubtedly a fantastical superhero romp, has a darker underbelly that the young actress and singer could never have explored as a screen queen for Disney Channel, where she spent the majority of her career. Finally, here was something meaty and—dare she admit it—dark. A welcome signal that the world would let her grow up.

Holt had been one of Disney's role models since the age of 12, starring in the martial arts comedy Kickin' It in 2011, then the fantasy Girl vs. Monster in 2012, and finally the sitcom I Didn't Do It in 2014. At the same time, she was churning out music for the network, through film soundtracks and even a Disney-branded holiday album. It wasn't until 2016 that she finally released her own debut single with Hollywood Records.

So Cloak & Dagger, her first acting exhibition outside of the Disney Channel purview, marked a clear shift. No matter that Freeform is still a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company—the content was different, and that meant Holt could finally peck her way out of the shell she'd been cased in. Her maturity only accelerated as she released more successful solo singles, including “Generous,” and later, “Love U Again,” and snagged a leading role in the Freeform ’90s thriller Cruel Summer, a major hit with ambitious storytelling goals. “I was so desperate to do a show like this,” Holt says.

Now 24, Holt has caught the broader entertainment industry's attention. She has 5 million Instagram followers; Cruel Summer season 2 is hotly anticipated; and her latest single, “Next,” co-written with Meghan Trainor, was big enough to win her a performance spot on Bachelor in Paradise on ABC (also owned by Disney, but really, who's counting?). Yes, Holt still feels, in many ways, like she's at the beginning of her transition from Disney prodigy to Hollywood staple. But, now, she has momentum.

In anticipation of her Bachelor in Paradise appearance, Holt sat down with ELLE.com to discuss her music, the next chapter of Cruel Summer, and what it's like when the world's watching you grow up.

Have you always wanted to be a singer, or did that dream come to you after you’d already become a Disney star?

Music was my first love. My dad was a musician, my sister was a musical theater nerd, and my brother listened to all sorts of music. So I think it was always in my bones. Then I fell in love with acting, and I focused on that for a bit, and it gave me the chance to live life a little bit. Because the music industry is such a specific lane, you have to understand your voice. You have to know what direction you want to go sonically and lyrically, and I had to learn so many things about myself in order to do that.

As you were developing your sound then, did you look to particular artists you wanted to emulate? Or were you eager to distinguish yourself?

I definitely had inspiration from other artists. I really love a lot of female U.K. pop artists, like Ellie Goulding, Anne-Marie, and Jess Glynne, because they're all within the same realm, but they’ve really solidified their artistry and are also different and unique.

How do you feel your time at Disney Channel informed the work you're doing now? Do you find yourself wanting to distance yourself from Disney, in the vein of someone like Miley Cyrus or even Hilary Duff? Or do you still deeply identify with the network?

[Long pause.] I am so grateful for those years. It was a playground. I got to see so many departments do their thing on a daily basis. Just observing that helped me understand the industry and become more in love with it, picking up on other spaces like the sound department or the camera department, or going into the writers' room or shadowing different directors.

I was 12 when I started working for the network, and I had no idea what I was doing at that time. I never looked at it as a job. Our production team made it home away from home for all of us kids. I got an incredible experience out of it, and I've been on this awesome journey of transitioning into adulthood and solidifying who I am as an actor, as an artist, as an individual.

Because of all those years on that network, I feel more confident than ever to make decisions for myself professionally or personally. So, yes, the transition can be incredibly tricky because you are put in a box. But I think the challenge is exciting and will be incredibly rewarding whenever I do get the opportunity to step outside those zones—and I have. I've gotten that opportunity.

Which of your recent roles do you feel has given you the most opportunity to step outside of that box? And which role did you learn the most from?

I think it would be a tie between the last two roles that I've done on Freeform, one on Cloak & Dagger, and then the other on Cruel Summer. I say that it's a tie because, in both, I really evolved as a human. In Cloak & Dagger, it brought me to a space where I could learn about the way that society minimizes females, or the way that it dehumanizes Black culture. And then on Cruel Summer, I got to learn more about manipulation and gaslighting. It really helped me understand the world we’re living in.

I have to ask: While you were filming Cruel Summer, did you already know about the twist at the end, or was it a surprise to you?

I knew nothing. I knew absolutely nothing. The whole cast [knew nothing]. Everything was a complete surprise to us, but we did find out little things along the way to help us make choices for our characters and give us a trajectory.

I think we were shooting the second-to-last episode, and our producers told me the ending, and it took me a whole night to process it. We had been in Dallas for, I don't know, four months at this point working on this show, and every script that we got, we were begging to find out the ending. When we finally got it, it took me a night to process it, but I was very, very happy and satisfied with how it ended.

Is there any update you can give us on season 2? When will you start filming?

I don't know when we'll be filming again, but I think whatever they come up with will be just incredible. This team of people, they're so smart and they're so good at what they do.

What do you want for your character, Kate, in season 2?

Oh, God. Okay. I don’t know. I don’t know because I don’t write. I think I want to see [Kate] on a journey with Mallory and, eventually, along the way, find out the truth about Jeanette. I do think it will be really interesting to see where Kate and Mallory take their relationship.

How did the invite to perform on Bachelor in Paradise come about, and what made you say yes?

Oh my God, that was such a fun experience. I'm obviously such a fan of The Bachelor. I do Bachelor nights with my friends almost every other week, and we get so excited about it each week. There's not a lot of gossip or tea in my life, so I get excited to venture into that world for a little bit.

When the [Bachelor in Paradise team] reached out, there was no hesitation. Seeing all the contestants together, I didn't even feel like it was real.

As you were working on this single with Meghan Trainor, what was the collaboration process like?

She really is such a gem. We've grown in the same circle for years now, and I've always dreamt of working with her, whether it was on the writing side or even collaborating on a song together. I am very lucky to have done a project with somebody who's as down to earth as she is, because I think it just makes the experience so much better. That has inspired me to be the same way, especially in this industry that can sometimes tear people down. She's just somebody who builds people up.

As someone with a huge social following, how do you think about your responsibility—if any—to your audience? Do you feel a need to share everything online to please this audience you've built? Or do you want a firm line between the professional and the private?

I really struggle in this space because it is...It's tricky. I commend a lot of people on social media for being effortlessly cool and honest and transparent, and that's something that I wish I could do. But I find myself struggling because I do want to keep a part of my life private. There is a fine line; I don't know if I've found it yet, though.

I'm so obsessed with my fans, and I'm so grateful for their loyalty and for their support, and I want to express that more and more. I feel like the only way I can do that is through social media, and it's such a bummer because I find myself deleting everything once a week and then putting it back on and then deleting it again. Even though social media has been around for ages, it feels like now we can't live without it. I'm still trying to find a good rhythm for it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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