After three years of waiting, Olivia Rodrigo is finally back with her third album. you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, was announced to Instagram on April 2nd with Olivia stating that it’s out on June 12th, and needless to say, I’m actually itching for it right this moment. The initial direction of this article was meant to be about fan speculations over this upcoming album. Before I started writing, I was thinking to myself about how funny it would be if she announced the album during the week—and low and behold, she did. With that laid out, I’m still going to talk about fan speculations before the announcement as it’s interesting to see how fan perceptions of Olivia differ from her actual career moves.
Before the announcement, many speculated that Olivia was going to continue the four letter album title tradition. Common guesses for the album name were LOVE, LUCK, SWEET, etc. I still don’t really understand why many coined this a tradition as she only had two albums that were four lettered words. After relistening to her discography, I honestly interpreted GUTS as a continuation and completion to SOUR. SOUR was about the pains of growing up, through navigating heartbreak, jealousy, and insecurity. It was youthful and agonizing in a way that’s unique to teenagers.
Then GUTS was a continuation of that, in navigating what it’s like to slowly be exiting your teenage years and having to grasp the harsh realities of becoming an adult. I think teenage girlhood is such a unique experience, and GUTS felt like the idea of grappling with the loss of it. Olivia has talked about admiring Lorde’s music in the past, SOUR and GUTS remind me of Lorde saying “even when I was little, I knew that teenagers sparkled. I knew they knew something children didn’t know, and adults ended up forgetting.” “teenage dream” hits a lot different now than it did when I first listened to it at 16. I didn’t really think much of the lyric, “got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only 19,” and now that I’m turning 19 this year, the song is so much more personal.
So with the reflection of her past two albums, I’m actually glad she isn’t continuing the four letter album ‘tradition’. It’s bittersweet in the sense that it showcases her growth as an artist and overall as a person. If she had committed herself to continuing the tradition, it might have limited her and it might have not represented what this album is truly going to be about.
I also think its funny that some fans were very hellbent on her sticking to four letters and purple for the rest of her career that they were coming up with any four letter word for this upcoming album, because it was very cute and defining at the beginning of her career, I don’t think it’s fair to categorize anyone into a box based off what represented them at a certain point of her life.
There were also some complaints of Olivia taking too long to release a new album, but I honestly think artists taking time to release new projects is great. It builds even more hype for when a new album does drop, and I don’t mind waiting long periods for an album that has a lot of effort and meaning—quality over quantity.
you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, is quite the album title, and I’m completely here for it. The longer album title reminded me of Fiona Apple, who Olivia has said has been a source of inspiration for her, so I’m really excited to see those influences from her favorite artists seep into her album. The cover shows Olivia in a blissful state, with her legs swinging freely in the air on a park swing. It’s a dreamy and gorgeous cover, with her baby pink dress contrasting from the light blue sky, as if representing the saying “head over heels in love.”
A lot of people already felt seen by the album title, as it feels like this album might talk about how one can be at such a seemingly happy point in their life—whether it be blissfully in love, being successful, or just generally being at a good point in life— and still feel so sad or lost. It almost feels like that sadness is unwarranted. you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love feels like the daunting realization that love can’t necessarily fix everything and it reminds me of Olivia’s song from GUTS (spilled), “scared of my guitar” which was about the pains of lying to yourself and pretending to be in love, so I wonder if this album will be similar in meaning.
Olivia’s music has always deeply resonated with me—she always seems to have a song that captures how I’m feeling at any given point in my life. I think that’s what makes this album release so exciting to me because there’s the possibility that she’ll take feelings I can’t put into words and translate them into something raw and honest over a catchy and dreamy beat; something about that makes the wait completely worth it.