After her three MASTERFUL singles, “drivers license,” “deja vu,” and (my personal favourite) “good 4 u,” we all expected an album with exclusively bops – and Oliva Rodrigo did not disappoint. I expected a LOT from her debut album, but this no-skip soundtrack of 11 songs (each of which somehow makes you want to cry more than the last) exceeded my wildest expectations.
I had a very clear prediction of what “SOUR” would be like, based on her previous music, and it was fairly accurate. But when I played it first, I was shocked! Track one, “brutal”, was more angsty and rock than I ever would have imagined from our High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star. In fact, this is probably the most “punk/rock” song I’ll ever like – but it is an absolute masterpiece.
Now, I won’t get into every single track off the album (even though I very much could go on for days), but I’ll give you the highlights and notable songs. Next up, track two: traitor—my personal favourite off the album and one of the saddest tracks. The chorus, in which she calls out an ex for potentially cheating on her and/or betraying her, is probably one of the catchiest verses of her (admittedly starting) career.
My next favourite, “1 step forward, three steps back,” is probably her biggest homage to her idol: Taylor Swift. Rodrigo interpolated Swift’s “New Years Day” the last track on her 6th album, Reputation. The music was exactly the same in both songs, and the songs were so similar that Rodrigo actually gave Swift and Jack Antonoff writing credits for the track.
Speaking of her idol, Rodrigo has been receiving some hate from other Taylor Swift fans, commenting snake emojis on her Instagram posts for being “disloyal” to Swift. As a PR project, Rodrigo’s team sent boxes of SOUR merch to celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, who has had a very public feud with Swift for several years. Personally, I am unbothered by this – I’m doubtful that Swift herself would be this petty, so I see no reason for her fans to attack Rodrigo on her behalf.
But anyway, back to the album! Another one of my personal favourites is track 8, “happier,” in which Rodrigo reminisces of a past relationship and how happy her partner is. In this song, she expresses her wish for her former partner to be happy again – but not quite as happy or happier than when he was with her. Selfish? A little bit – but she acknowledges it in the song, which is part of what makes it so good – it’s honest and authentic.
As much as I’d like to cover every track, I’m going to skip to my other favourite from the album – track 11, “hope ur ok.” I feel like this is the perfect conclusion to the album – a slow and sad song, but NOT about a former relationship (as good as those songs were, it’s nice to see her branching out). Instead, this is about former friends – not friendships ended on bad terms, but people that simply drifted apart. There’s no way to know if these people are fictitious or real, but the song itself is excellent either way. Rodrigo thinks back to two old friends with whom she lost touch and tells their stories, ending the verses with some version of the phrase “I miss you, and I hope you’re okay.”
Overall, SOUR is 36 minutes of pure bliss. I can’t imagine a better album with insightful lyrics, authenticity, and highly emotional tracks, along with a couple of faster bops. At 18 years old, Olivia Rodrigo has done something other artists can only aspire to – she has built a sizable group of dedicated fans, accrued her first billion streams with only TWO songs, and included a Taylor Swift level of honesty into her music that makes listeners genuinely invested in her as a person. We have certainly not seen the last of Olivia Rodrigo, and I think we can safely expect even greater things in the future.
