A girl's guide to Olivia Rodrigo

A reflection on Olivia Rodrigo's timeless discography and how it has shaped the young woman I am today

This piece was partly inspired by the lovely

emma🦈

’s guide to the MCU and multiple articles first published via Redbrick Newspaper which you can view via my portfolio here. There are slight alterations in this piece but you can view the original versions of each article in the links to them.

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I decided to sporadically write this piece as I’m just catching up on Olivia Rodrigo’s performance at Glastonbury this year. I love her so much, from the symbolism and healing in her song lyrics to her stunning performances, it’s hard not to. I decided to write an in depth look at her discography and what these albums have meant for me today (from a long term fan’s perspective) as well as how much they’ve contributed to shaping the young woman I am today. Let’s get into it!

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Olivia Rodrigo first began her career as a Disney Channel star, however she soon left the path of Disney fame to become one of the most well-known singers today. Her career only spans 4 years, from the release of her first hit song All I Want to her smashing hit new single obsessed, but she has impacted so many young women’s lives since then. I’ll talk you through those singles which have particularly skyrocketed her career as well as her two recently released albums.

Hit Singles

All I Want

For her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series character Nini, Rodrigo was given free rein to write a song by her producer. The producer decided to ‘skip the middleman’ and give her full creative input into her own song. At the time, she found this daunting as she was 16 and had no experience but little did Rodrigo know the song would be a smash hit.

Rodrigo wanted to write a relatable song at the time, especially coming back to the troubles of her character in the show, she exclusively told behind the scenes. The lyrics of the first chorus, along with the soft melodies of the piano, display these emotions perfectly. ‘I found a guy, told me I was a star / He held the door, held my hand in the dark’ which shows how Nini felt betrayed by someone she thought she could trust, a common feeling amongst young girls in relationships today. The song shows that it is okay to dream for your lover to come one day. Although it may feel tough in the moment, they will come eventually.

drivers license

‘Driver’s License’ was where Rodrigo’s singing career first began and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The heartbreak ballad, rumoured to be about her relationship with former HSMTMTS star Joshua Bassett, touches upon the grief that comes with letting your lover go and the impact this has. The music video highlights this amazingly as Rodrigo is seen to be in different settings as she sings along to the lyrics, such as walking the street as well as sitting in a room with the words ‘You Said Forever’ around her as she sings to the lyrics ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street’.

vampire

‘vampire’ is the comeback single from Rodrigo’s previous SOUR era and nodded towards the start of her sophomore era GUTS. The song refers to a relationship where Rodrigo felt ultimate betrayal from her lover including being lied and cheated on. This single, in my opinion, was only just the beginning of Rodrigo’s new sound of young female angst and rage as well as the signifying self-discovery and liberation from these toxic relationships. The music video, exclusively directed by Petra Collins, displays her new era perfectly as she is seen to be performing at a show but is suddenly hit by a light which triggers the melodic change in the song.

get him back!

One of the hit singles her long-awaited sophomore album GUTS was ‘get him back!’. It brings all the angst and pop-rock fusion to a breakup as well as addressing girlhood in modern age America. One of my favourite things about the song is the effortless fusion between the pop and rock sound as well as Rodrigo’s vocals complimenting both genres extremely well. The lyricism behind the single is unforgettable. ‘He had an ego and a temper and a wandering eye / He said he’s six-foot-two and I’m like, “Dude, nice try”’ illustrates how Rodrigo is addressing everything wrong with her lover in a sarcastic tone.

Can’t Catch Me Now

Olivia Rodrigo released her new single ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’ for the prequel film of the Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The song’s haunting melody and spiritual lyrics transport listeners to another dimension.

The song’s lyrics tell a story within themselves, ‘But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze / My footsteps on the ground’ highlights the idea that although Rodrigo does not want to be found in the present moment, she wants people to realise her presence can be felt. ‘I bet you figured I’d pass with the winter / Be somethin’ easy to forget’ connotes that she does not want her lover to forget how she loved them and she wants them to realise that her love will not be easily forgotten. The ballad is unlike Rodrigo’s new album GUTS which is filled with rock and pop punk tunes, and it is nice to hear her vocals being appreciated throughout the single as it is a change from her newly released music. This single is an all-time comfort of mine and you can read more about how it deeply resonates with me here.

Essential Albums

SOUR

Officially released during May 2021, SOUR was Rodrigo’s debut album and the hype that surrounded it was definitely worth it. In the album, she touches upon themes such as young womanhood and navigating the highs and lows that come with this. Key singles include ‘brutal’, ‘deja vu’ ‘good 4 u’.

It is hard not to fall in love with her talent and musical personality as she relays her feelings towards modern society as well as being a relatable person for much of Generation Z. Rodrigo jumps from one genre to another effortlessly and this is seen in the tracklist of the album. This album should be labelled as essential because much of it is so relatable to the audience and Rodrigo sings so effortlessly and beautifully in every track whilst also experimenting with her own sound.

The album first begins with ‘brutal’ and this sums up every angsty teenager in their late adolescence. It is the singer’s take on generational trauma. Rodrigo tells NME of her inspiration from the women of ‘90s alt-rock. The wiry guitar tune paired with the ‘urgent’ singing tune of Rodrigo places the song to be a must listen to for the audience. I love how relatable the lyrics are, ‘If someone tells me one more time / ‘Enjoy your youth’, I’m gonna cry’, it is pretty hard not to scream out the lyrics and dance around to the punk rock tune of the song.

The next track on the album (and honestly one of my favourites which is always on repeat), and another one of Rodrigo’s famous singles, is ‘deja vu’. Compared to ‘driver’s license’, where Rodrigo was in the first stage of her grief and heartbreak after her past relationship, ‘deja vu’ places the singer in the second stage of her heartbreak. It can be argued that Rodrigo is now moving on from her ex but questioning her ex’s new flame and how unique their new relationship really is. The song has a more upbeat melody compared to other tracks on the album. The singer was also inspired by her musical best friend Taylor Swift as well as impersonating (and crediting) ‘Cruel Summer’ with the lyric and melody being musically similar.

The final stage of grief and heartbreak, and the last of Rodrigo’s singles, is ‘good 4 u’. In this single, Rodrigo addresses her former flame, with an air of wit and sarcasm, for quickly moving on from the relationship. The singer experiments musically with drums and a guitar to emphasise her anger building up towards her ex. The angsty, pop-rock sound is reminiscent of 200os pop-rock artists like Avril Lavigne. The music video is also reminiscent of classic 2000 films, with a direct reference to Jennifer’s Body when the singer submerges herself in a lake with glowing red eyes.

One of my favourite tracks, ‘jealousy jealousy’ finishes off the album perfectly. This track is about the unrealistic standards society has set for young women, particularly through the use of social media. Rodrigo sings about the constant comparison and self-hatred that being addicted to social media leads to. The lyrics immediately reflect this, ‘I kinda wanna throw my phone across the room / ‘Cause all I see are girls too good to be true’. This shows that the perfect lives we see on social media, whether that be Instagram or Twitter, are not all that they seem.

Much of SOUR explores explicit feelings many young women feel in society today but are told to hide away. ‘enough for you’ showcases what it is like to be a young female in the 21st century, changing yourself to fit into someone’s perception of perfection of the version of you they have in their mind. ‘If I looked like the prom queens / I know you loved before’ which is particularly reminiscent of an unreleased song of Rodrigo’s ‘Never Be Like Her’. There is also ‘1 step forward, 3 steps back’ which is about the ups and downs of life and navigating your way through this with an inconsistent partner. Every time she takes a step forward towards her lover, she feels pushed back from her goals.

Rodrigo’s debut album is truly the singer’s time to shine. There are numerous influences which have shaped the singer and who she is today, but throughout SOUR the singer stays true to her authentic and original sound. Listeners are able to see who the true version of Olivia Rodrigo is whilst also staying true to themselves and delving deeper into their own feelings.

GUTS and GUTS (spilled)

A recent release from Rodrigo, in September 2023, GUTS exuberates a whole new sound for Rodrigo. She experiments with the pop punk and rock sound, doing so seamlessly and this can be seen in numerous tracks throughout the album such as ‘bad idea right?’, ‘get him back!’ and ‘all-american b*tch’.

Rodrigo teased and released (in the same week), the deluxe version of the album named GUTS (spilled) in correspondence to its sister album. The additional songs to the album solidify Rodrigo’s experimentation much more as she is clearly seen to be having fun with it all, including the song which wraps up the whole album ‘so american’ as she is displaying the joys of being in a new relationship.

The opening track of the album began with ‘all american-b*tch’, an absolute favourite of mine as the pop rock tones of the song accompany heartfelt lyrics about living as a young woman in society today. The lyrics in the chorus ‘Forgive, and I forget / I know my age and I act like it’ highlight this perfectly, as Rodrigo puts a spin on the age-old saying of ‘act your age’. Rodrigo is telling her critics, as a young woman, that it is wrong for them to harshly judge herself and her music so quickly. The song is reassuring for listeners as she tells them it is okay to be themselves, no matter what others may think of them.

As the album progresses, Rodrigo touches upon the more heartfelt and emotional feelings of being a young woman. ‘lacy’ displays these emotions perfectly, as Rodrigo ponders on what being a perfect girl in society truly means. Lacy is seen as the perfect young woman in society and what Rodrigo wants to achieve, the lyrics ‘Like perfume that you wear, I linger all the time / Watching, hidden in plain sight’ show this. Young women in society today tend to question themselves and if they are the ‘main character’. Rodrigo shows this perfectly throughout the lyrics of ‘lacy’ which are accompanied by the soft tones of the guitar.

Another track on the album which spoke a lot to me was ‘pretty isn’t pretty’ as Rodrigo speaks about the highs and lows of beauty standards in society today. I find the song relates back to another on her debut album SOUR ‘jealousy jealousy’ in which Rodrigo tells listeners of her jealousy of those women who are deemed worthy in society due to their looks or wealth. ‘pretty isn’t pretty’ ponders upon how young women try to change themselves to some extent in order to be worthy in society. ‘When pretty isn’t pretty enough, what do you do? / And everybody’s keepin’ it up, so you think it’s you’ accompanies the soft, rock undertones as Rodrigo sings of a relatable issue between her listeners, how they can never be ‘pretty’ enough in the eyes of society today.

‘obsessed’ is the brand new single on the GUTS (spilled) album and it definitely doesn’t disappoint. The accompanying music video places Rodrigo in the perspective of the ‘other girl’ as she feels underlying jealousy at her lover’s ex, ultimately placing her on a pedestal. The music video is entertaining as listeners get to see how Rodrigo’s obsession with her beau’s ex manifests into numerous perfect women, including one who is good with children. The lyrics compliment the video nicely. ‘I’m so obsessed with your ex (uh-huh) / I know she’s been asleep on my side of your bed, and I can feel it’ shows how Rodrigo feels that her partner’s ex has taken over her life, making her overthink her every word and action in the new relationship.

The pop rock and grungy feel of the new added songs of the album are unforgettable as Rodrigo is having fun with experimenting her sound. This can be seen in ‘so american’ where she preaches her American roots and takes pride in this. ‘And he says I’m so American / Oh God, it’s just not fair of him’ shows how her lover makes jokes and gimmicks about her roots but she couldn’t care less as she is having fun in the relationship.

GUTS (spilled) is a joyous listen as Olivia Rodrigo displays every single feeling of young womanhood in society, from angst to heartache and young love. I adore how Rodrigo is freely experimenting with her sound and having fun in the process and I cannot wait for what is to come for her in the future.

Additional tracks worth exploring include:

‘1 step forward, 3 steps back’, ‘favourite crime’ and ‘hope ur ok’ from SOUR and ‘teenage dream’, ‘scared of my guitar’ and ‘stranger’ from GUTS (spilled).

Concluding Thoughts

Rodrigo has beautifully evolved through her sound. From dreamy pop ballads to angsty womanhood hits, the singer has truly risen to stardom and she hasn’t disappointed in the process. I’m so excited for what is to come for her and I cannot wait for where this will take her in the future.

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Hope you guys enjoyed this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know what you think of this below and if we have any favourite songs of Olivia’s in common hehe.

Lots of love and hugs,

Halima <3

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