Was it the pancit, the lumpia or the beautifully messy boodle fight spread? The casual stroll and bicycle ride around Intramuros? Or perhaps it was the bowl of halo-halo she “secured” first thing upon arriving in Manila that won her over.

If she were in any other non-US city, Olivia Rodrigo would have introduced the song “So American”—midway through the set—with a spiel about finding it “hard to fit it” despite trying her best to experience the local culture. Because, “at the end of the day,” she typically says, she can’t help but “feel so American.”

Olivia Rodrigo rides a bike in Intramuros — FACEBOOK/Bambike Ecotours.