How Olivia Rodrigo's 'Can't Catch Me Now' Healed Me Immensely

A reflection on Olivia Rodrigo's single 'Can't Catch Me Now' and how her gentle rhythms alongside touching lyrics healed me immensely

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back with another piece, this time on Olivia Rodrigo’s single which has recently hit its one year anniversary. The song has healed me in so many ways and I’ll be explaining how the song itself has had such a positive impact within my healing journey. I’ll put the song below for you guys to listen to whilst reading this piece and I hope you enjoy it.

I first discovered the song during its release in November 2023 and reviewed it for my student newspaper. To be honest, I didn’t think much of the song and did find it beautiful at the time but my rediscovery with the song back in early July this year honestly came at the right time. The song’s lyrics now healed me immensely just after I parted ways with someone who I thought I’d see in my future, but turned out to hurt me selfishly and loved me in the name of an ulterior motive. I’ll be delving into my favourite lyrics of the song and how they have helped me during my healing journey when I first rediscovered this song in July to the present day.

The song first begins with the lyrics:

‘There’s blood on the side of the mountain / There’s writing all over the wall / Shadows of us are still dancin’ / In every room and in every hall’

As we can already see, the song has already begun with a story and incomplete one between Rodrigo and her lover. I really felt these lyrics as the history with the person I was healing from really felt like writings on a wall and the vision of us two together were simply just shadows. There’s also an intriguing symbol from Rodrigo here with blood on the mountain and this will be significant later on in the song. However right now, it feels as if her pain is fresh as she has been wounded by someone she once loved truly and it is her duty to heal from this now individually.

The first verse then finishes with:

‘There’s snow fallin’ over the city / You thought that it would wash away / The bitter taste of my fury / And all of the messes you made / Yeah you think that you got away’

These lyrics show how just like seasons change and pass, so will the people in our lives. It has been hard for me to navigate but the biggest lesson I’ve learnt this year is not to give so much of myself to others as the energy will never be reciprocated. I would argue that my love is deep and profound, maybe no one will ever love me to the extent that I will for them romantically (however this isn’t the case necessarily in terms of platonic love as I have my best friend Lydia as well as a small group of friends in real life, who I love boundlessly).

I really feel the lyrics ‘The bitter taste of my fury’ too as healing does come with its highs and lows, and the lows contain the anger and towards the person who had hurt you and frustration about how you now must heal without them next to you.

The song continues with the chorus:

‘But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze / My footsteps on the ground / You’ll see my face in every place / But you can’t catch me now’

These lyrics are profound and definitely have an impact for me as they show how my presence and energy is now valued in other places without this person by my side. The lyrics ‘You’ll see my face in every place’ reminds me of the saying about how the person who once hurt you, will now try and find you in every person they come across and I feel that this couldn’t be more true. I personally feel like I’m one of one and an irreplaceable energy and aura, you cannot find anyone else like me and that is my beauty and strength.

My healing journey has included numerous doubts about if this person who hurt me would now replace me but then I realised, no one can and will ever replace my beautiful energy and presence. The lyrics ‘But you can’t catch me now’ (and the song’s namesake) also shows how now parting ways with this person from my past, they can no longer have access to this new, immensely beautiful and healed version of me and that is another strength of mine.

The second verse includes the lyrics:

‘I bet you figured I’d pass with the winter / Be somethin’ easy to forget / Oh, you think I’m gone ‘cause I left’

These lyrics go back to the motif of the seasons with Rodrigo saying her lover thinks the memory of her will pass like the season of Winter. The use of the Winter season is very profound here as the season is usually associated with death and the end of life. Rodrigo is implying that with her lover’s betrayal, the memory of her will be erased completely alongside the memories of them both together.

However, she then counteracts this assumption with the lyrics ‘Oh you think I’m gone ‘cause I left’ as she proves her lover wrong. I felt these lyrics immensely as my friendship and betrayal with this person happened via social media and I was contemplating deleting my writing page on Instagram over this person who hurt me however I then realised the love, light and inner power was always within me, I am not a forgettable person and kept the page (alongside lots of convincing by my best friend which also helped!)

The chorus then carries on with the added lyrics:

‘Through wading grass, the months will pass / You’ll feel it all around / I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere / But you can’t catch me now / No, you can’t catch me now’

Again, this shows how in the pursuit of one’s healing journey, time is the ultimate healer. I can admit, the past few months of healing from this betrayal which took place at the end of June and beginning of July have been a rollercoaster of emotions, doubts and fears however I have ultimately come out stronger for myself in the end. I can also say I have found the inner beauty and strength within myself as my growth was hindered by this person who betrayed me but now I have had the chance to discover the beauty within my individual quirks and flaws.

Again, the lyrics ‘You’ll feel it all around’ depicts how someone’s energy and aura has a huge presence when one departs from their life and I feel as if this has happened to me with the person who betrayed me. I’m a very peppy, sunshine girl and I felt like my energy was drained immensely by this person. It has been nothing but exhausting rediscovering myself all over again since July but I’m proud of myself for doing so as I’m all the more confident in my individual energy and presence.

The song’s powerful bridge then contains the lyrics:

‘You can’t, you can’t catch me now / I’m comin’ like a storm into your town / You can’t, you can’t catch me now / I’m higher than the hopes that you brought down’

These lyrics really hit home for me as it truly shows the power of nature, human and worldly alike. Storms are powerful reminders of the impact the world can have on humans, and storms can happen inside of us too. Within my healing journey, I have felt countless, perilous storms of anger and sadness inside me about the person who had hurt me and how the situation ultimately panned out. However, amongst all of this, I have learnt to sit and deal with these deeply felt emotions as it taught me more about myself than I could ever imagine. The lyrics which really make me feel emotional are ‘I’m higher than the hopes that you brought down’ as in the midst of all of this healing, I have realised the hope and light was always within me. Once again, I’m immensely proud for not losing myself entirely to this person who hurt me and finding that the love and light I saw in them was ultimately a projection of my own positivity.

The song then finishes with the outro lyrics:

‘There’s blood on the side of the mountain / It’s turning a new shade of red / Yeah, sometimes the fire you founded / Don’t burn the way you’d expect / Yeah, you thought that this was the end’

Remember the blood on the mountain symbolism from earlier on in the song? The cyclical structure of this symbol is so important as the ‘new shade of red’ shows how healing does happen eventually, no matter how wounding and hurtful the original pain was. I love this symbolism as it has taught me that although my wounds may still be fresh 6 months on from this betrayal, I am en route to healing, growth and blossoming into the beautiful woman that I am today. I do truly thank this person who had hurt me as they have shaped my current beauty and energy, and without this betrayal I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Overall, I grow to love this song more and more everyday as it continues to help me heal and grow from the hurtful experience I had in early July. I hope you all enjoyed this in depth analysis and personal take on Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’ (my inner English Lit student is giggling and kicking her feet with joy right now) and let me know if you’d like to see more like this!

Lots of love and hugs,

Halima <3