Livies (yep, that’s what Olivia Rodrigo’s fans are called) have something new to get excited about. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter sensation has partnered with Sony to release a limited edition of the company’s LinkBuds S wireless, noise-canceling earbuds in a very Rodrigo shade of violet. Sony won’t tell us how many of the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo will be made, but we know they’re priced the same ($200) as the regular LinksBuds S. They’re Buy at Sony Electronics starting September 26.
Rodrigo’s recently announced world tour for her 2023 sophomore album Guts has been seeing incredible demand, with some ticket resellers commanding prices in excess of $5,000 — reminiscent of the kind of enthusiasm shown for Taylor Swift’s currently touring Eras shows. Guts is the follow-up to Rodrigo’s hugely popular debut solo album, 2021’s Sour.
Rodrigo not only chose the color for the limited-edition earbuds — the same shade that makes a prominent appearance in the background of the cover art for her two albums — but she’s also crafted a set of two custom EQ presets that only violet LinkBuds S owners will be able to access within the Sony Headphones Connect app. Named for the albums, Rodrigo developed the presets with her producer Daniel Nigro to create unique listening experiences specifically for those who listen to the albums on the LinkBuds S.
“I’m so excited that I got to design a limited-edition LinkBuds S in the color violet,” Rodrigo said in a press release. “The sound is incredible and I can’t wait for my fans to experience Guts in this way.”
Even though plenty of Livies will end up wearing the same color of LinkBuds S, each set is unique. The earbuds are made with factory-recovered plastic and reclaimed water bottles, and due to variations in these materials, no two violet marble patterns will be exactly the same.
As with the regular LinkBuds S, the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo have active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency mode, hi-res audio when using a phone that’s compatible with the LDAC Bluetooth codec, and Bluetooth Multipoint, as well as extra features like speak-to-chat, which recognizes when you’re talking and can silence your music and turn on transparency mode in response.
The LinkBuds S are also designed for use with Sony’s immersive 360 Reality Audio (360RA) format, and you’ll be able to hear Guts in 360RA on both Tidal and Amazon Music.
The earbuds have Amazon’s Alexa built-in if you want to enable it for wake-word access to the assistant, and they’re compatible with Google Assistant on Android phones. Sony says they’ll get about six hours of use on a single charge with ANC turned on, and 20 hours of total time when you include the charging case.
