By Lewis Hannah
‘drop dead’ is the lead single from Olivia Rodrigo’s new album You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. The lower case letter at the start of her single’s title is how the artist wants it. She seems to enjoy dropping her capital letters.
Olivia Rodrigo – ‘drop dead’ music video
With two great albums already under her name in 2021s Sour and 2023s Guts, you could be forgiven for thinking that Olivia Rodrigo, the American popstar who first sent shockwaves with ‘Driver’s licence’, a staggering and sudden hit that crossed over into seemingly every sphere of the internet, would slow down on her next LP. However, this year’s You seem pretty sad for a girl in love is a sign that the pop sensation has even bigger aspirations.
Pure regret and sudden infatuation
You seem pretty sad… is simultaneously both an album deserving of its title given the subject matter and themes, and in another sense, a departure for Rodrigo. Where she has previously sung about her hatred and bitterness for previous partners who have wronged her, here she flips between pure regret and sudden infatuation. The latter stes the tone for lead single and opener ‘drop dead’, and ‘stupid song’. On ‘drop dead’ soaring strings collide with Rodrigo’s obsession with the person she’s singing about, whilst ‘stupid song’ is driven by great driving drums that feel like the manifestation of that growing obsession.
There’s also a notable influence of early synth-pop and new wave rhythms, particularly influenced by bands like The Cure, as seen on a track like ‘maggots for brains’ and the excellent ‘u + me = <3’ with their bright, jangly riffs, and low-key vocal performances by Olivia Rodrigo.
Like every good Olivia Rodrigo album before it, You seem pretty sad… also has time and space for the slower tracks, built on personal reflection and feelings, which is what we see more of in the album’s second half. ‘Purple’ compares Rodrigo and a love of hers as being a melding of bright colours, in this case, red and blue combining to form purple. There’s also ‘the cure’, an excellent 5-minute slow burn, first built on an acoustic guitar and these airy vocals from Rodrigo before building up to a stellar outro in one of the album’s finest moments, as Rodrigo accepts that love can’t cover up her own insecurities.
The Cure collaboration
Towards the end, we get an unexpected collab between Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith, the frontman for the great post-punk and goth band The Cure, in ‘what’s wrong with me’, as the pair come to the realisation that their partner may be the one responsible for their constant sadness. It also speaks to both the impact both have had on the music industry, and each other, that a collab like this between a modern pop icon and a widely regarded frontman like Robert Smith can happen.
The album closes out with ‘cigarette smoke’, which like a good few of the tracks before it, begins with just Olivia’s atmospheric vocals and a gentle guitar being played before gradually finding room to grow; this time the violin grows alongside Rodrigo’s vocals, soaring to new heights, before coming back down to earth to close the album out.
I asked Zach Thomas, a personal close friend of mine, and the person who introduced me to Olivia Rodrigo, for his thoughts on Rodrigo’s latest. Here’s what he had to say:
“Olivia Rodrigo just gets better with each release, doesn’t she? I thought it would be tough to top ‘Guts’ with its pop punk leanings and great songwriting, but this new record is somehow an even more noticeable improvement on her last, which i already had on repeat several months after release”
On whom the album may be about: “It’s not clear. Olivia has spoken about her exes before and the things she experienced before and after their relationships. I think the diehard fans will probably sleuth out who the album is about, but a big reason for that is because the songs are that good and littered with quality, people are naturally intrigued.
On what separates You seem pretty sad… from her last two LPs, Zach says: “It’s the strings for me, they’re such an ever-present on the whole mix, and give a new touch to what is already a great album without them.”
Some in-depth talk about Olivia Rodrigo’s new album
