Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album “Sour” on Friday, May 21 after she released three separate music videos with music from the album. To no one’s surprise, the album hit number one on the Billboard top 200 albums in the first week of its release. One of many records the album has already broken.
“Sour” assumably focuses on Rodrigo’s previous relationship with co-Disney star Joshua Bassett. Her album also dabbles in explaining her experiences with her self image as a young adult.
Rodrigo’s song “brutal” begins the album with an upbeat punk sound. The song describes her feelings on growing up with lyrics like, “I’m so sick of seventeen, where’s my f*cking teenage dream. If someone tells me one more time ‘enjoy your youth,’ I’m gonna cry.” She directly explains how growing up has been difficult.
“brutal” complements the other songs on the album like “jealousy, jealousy” and “good 4 u,” two other songs with heavy punk influence while explaining Rodrigo’s struggle with her self image.
The actress and singer-songwriter begins to tell the story of her heartbreak from her previous relationship with Bassett in her second song on the album, “traitor.” This song tells the devastating realization Rodrigo has when her ex-boyfriend began a relationship with fellow Disney star Sabrina Carpenter only two weeks after breaking up.
Similar to the other songs on the album, “traitor” puts up the facade that it is a sad song but actually displays Rodriogo’s anger and frustration from her previous relationship in her lyrics. This can be seen in songs like “happier” where she says, “Say you love her, baby, just not like you loved me.” Saying Rodrigo is bitter over how things ended, is an understatement.
The album ends with “hope ur ok,” a touching conclusion connecting Rodrigo to previous friends who have since fallen out of touch. As a grand finale, this song praises her old friends for working through their tough lives and reminding them that “nothing is as bad as it seems.” This song also subtly hints that Rodrigo is reassuring herself that everything will be okay.
The Disney star turned pop star has not released any other information about an upcoming album, fans hypothesize that new music may be in the works due to her recent Instagram posts. Not to mention all the love songs Rodrigo teased before the tracks released, that weren’t on the album.
The album “Sour” describes the experience of growing up as a young adult. Similarly to Taylor Swift’s countless albums, Rodrigo used “Sour” as a way to express her feelings and relating to other young adults and teenagers going through their first heartbreak. Speaking of Taylor Swift, you can hear words from the minds of her and Aaron Dessner on the track “1 step forward, 3 steps back,” which they helped write.
What song do you resonate most with on “Sour?”