All my life, I’ve been accused of only listening to sad songs. What can I say? I’ve always been a moody girl. Female artists who capture my anger, angst, and complex emotions win me over. Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love perfectly tugs at my heartstrings and runs my playlist. Her junior album dives into the whirlwind of being in a relationship that makes you mistake nausea for butterflies.
The Honeymoon Phase
The first half of this album is a sweet, playful run-through of the first stages of young love, bright-eyed and swoony in the way you can’t see anything wrong with this person. There’s a tenderness in “stupid song” and “honeybee” that comforts me as I blast them in the car with the windows down.
A line that plays into my moody feelings is in “stupid song” when she says, “I feel right, I feel wrong, I feel totally insane.” It shows how you play a tug-of-war in your own mind as you try to reel in your emotions.
I find it hard to believe some people truly believe this album is just for sad girls when these next songs make me feel so giddy. “u + me = <3” means so much for a song to express the bliss of a fun, loving relationship. If I were in a coming-of-age movie, I’d want this song over a sequence of my girlfriends and me.
This is where the album takes a turn. “my way” is a song that begins to expose deep-rooted habits and insecurities that come out when you start to feel jealous. At first listen, you may just find this an upbeat, pop-punk song, but her attitude and slick lyrics make this song unhinged and feisty.
The Sick and Twisted Stage
We now get into the moody girl anthems. “the cure” is one of my favorite tracks in this masterpiece of an album. It reveals a girl’s inner thoughts and how they taint the beautiful picture of love, turning it black and white. Despite being in love and “happy,” it doesn’t patch up unhealed wounds. I can start my day with this song and truly wonder why I’m down. The comfort of acknowledging your own complex emotions is revolutionary for a girl who can’t seem to find the right words sometimes.
When I heard these songs for the first time, I looped them for weeks on end. “begged” has such a soft, intimate acoustic sound that makes my heart feel heavy. A song wrapping up what it’s like to ask and not receive in three minutes and 37 seconds deserves all the hype it gets.
In the same vein as how this album promotes my sad girl tendencies, “less” is a song that admits to the person that something is truly not working in the relationship. It’s a bittersweet acceptance that it must come to an end, despite how much love you have for this person.
Whether you equate this song romantically or platonically, it’ll force you to dive into the rollercoaster of your emotions. This album was quickly saved, streamed, and went platinum in my car. I hope more incredible artists like Rodrigo continue to pour into the cups of moody girls, as we’re most misunderstood.
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