Written by Kelsey Vickers. Header Image Courtesy of Creative Commons, Justin Higuchi via Flickr.
On her latest album, “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” Olivia Rodrigo continued the
self-reflection and genre exploration she first embarked on in her debut. She added another genre
to the mix in her recent release, and the once rich musical blend became disjointed. The
genre-hopping is starting to read like an attempt to appeal to everyone rather than true artistic
expression.
Rodrigo revisits all the genres of her past in “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.” The
melancholic ballads that dominated “SOUR” are renewed in “honeybee” and “begged.” The
angsty pop-punk sound she dabbled in on “SOUR” and fully leaned into on “GUTS” reappeared
on tracks “expectations” and “my way.” In her latest album, she embraced the dreamy sound she
introduced with “pretty isn’t pretty” on “GUTS.” This tactic appeals to larger audiences and has
earned her millions of new fans while maintaining old ones. While there is something for
everyone on this album, it leaves most of us with only a few songs to walk away with.
Personally, I’m here for the bedroom pop and new wave, but I could do without the pop-punk
and ballads. The genre shifts not only disconnect the songs from different listeners, but also
disconnect the songs from each other. It made for bumpy transitions at best, and whiplash at
worst (I’m looking at you, “less” to “expectations”).
Where the overall sound is incohesive, she makes up for it thematically. We see how love feels
for Rodrigo for the first time, and it consumes her in the same way breakups do. She became so
entangled with her partner, hinging her self-worth upon him until she realized love couldn’t save
her. Her self-awareness and disenchantment with the life-defining love story women are sold, themes
rarely explored in modern pop music, set this album apart from Rodrigo’s peers. But it
seems Rodrigo bit off more than she could chew; her lyrics to describe this fresh theme fell flat,
with overused metaphors like “train off the track” and perfect rhymes that distract like tourist and
florist. There are still many strong, sobering lines, such as “I had big dreams ‘til I tied myself to
you,” but unsure how to follow up such powerful lines, she returned to her bed with an upset
stomach.
The lyricism may have been neglected on some songs, but that was in favor of each song’s
production. Rodrigo is not shy about taking inspiration from her predecessors, but she reinvents
sounds to feel fresh and unique to her. The sounds of this album brought the lyrics to life,
injecting her emotions into the songs in ways the lyrics could not alone. Most impressively, the
chord progression in “purple” marks the album’s dark shift to her mental spiral. The songs may
not click together sonically, but they shine individually. It’s refreshing to see a young artist experiment
and not simply follow trends, but hopefully, as she grows into her artistry, her work becomes more
unified in both sound and quality. If not, I’ll continue to add my favorite songs to a playlist and leave
the rest.
