Olivia Rodrigo drops her album ‘SOUR’: What’s Twitter’s reaction?
If Taylor Swift calls Olivia Rodrigo her daughter, it is with good reason. Rodrigo seems to have nailed the genre of the heartbreak songs, the songs you listen to when you’re going through a vast miscellany of emotions in the aftermath of either falling in — or out of — love. In the process, she’s added her Gen-Z touch to it & honored Swift’s legacy of heartbreak songs.
Rodrigo recently said in an interview, “It’s interesting, heartbreaks when you’re 16 or 17 because you don’t yet have that perspective of knowing that life goes on and you’re gonna meet other people; that it wasn’t the only happy experience you’ll ever have.” The 18-year-old singer is embracing all the emotions that come with heartbreaks & which is making her songs so honest & authentic.
We aren’t here to do the fraught, tiring activity of comparing female artists. We’re here to announce that Rodrigo — whose “driver’s license” and “good 4 u” already had us listening to her on loop — has now released her debut album SOUR. The verdict is in. She does know heartbreak closely. And predictably, Twitter can’t take it.
millennials before and after listening to olivia rodrigo's album pic.twitter.com/QPF9yXARly
— gabe bergado (@gabebergado) May 21, 2021
There are the obvious signs of aging that millennials are showing. But hey, you don’t have to call them out like that.
olivia rodrigo writing brutal: pic.twitter.com/yuxf9gNFS0
— oban 🌻 (taylor’s version) (exam era) (@obaneliastreet) May 21, 2021
If you’ve heard “brutal” you know Rodrigo captures the very specific angsty energy that Gen-Z carries, with a dash of nihilism, and dollops of innocence. When we say she’s nailed the music of her generation, we aren’t exaggerating even a bit.
The lyrics go, “I’m so insecure I think/That I’ll die before I drink/And I’m so caught up in the news/Of who likes me and who hates you/And I’m so tired that I might/Quit my job, start a new life/And they’d all be so disappointed/‘Cause who am I if not exploited?/And I’m so sick of seventeen/Where’s my fuckin’ teenage dream?”
Those last words hit us all like a ton of bricks. With the endemic literally eating into the prime years of our lives, we all feel it.
. brutal by olivia rodrigo
the beat the lyrics pic.twitter.com/eU7ctHkd11
— grape | mask & sour (@beIovedgrape) May 21, 2021
And then there’s the jarring difference between the beats of the song — that’s bop to anytime — and the lyrics that can leave you crushed if you think too hard about them.
This was Olivia Rodrigo while she was writing the whole album #SOUROlivia #OliviaRodrigo @Olivia_Rodrigo pic.twitter.com/aKzub9IXoa
— Adamari Leon (@AdaaRile) May 21, 2021
Some of us have lived on earth for far too long to not try & find some other meanings to the song, beyond, the romantic meanings it’s taken.
Sour by Olivia Rodrigo really came and attacked me today, huh? pic.twitter.com/ieXEiei3ll
— Nora Dominick (@noradominick) May 21, 2021
If you find yourself tired & teary-eyed, or your kohl fully messed up after the album stops playing, know that you’re not alone. Rodrigo owes a lot of people emotional compensation for what her songs have done to our hearts.
Olivia Rodrigo said I am 18 years old and I will ruin every man who has wronged me
— ella dawson (@brosandprose) May 21, 2021
She’s just trying to channelize her chaotic energy & angst into good music. Please respect that.
not me crying to olivia rodrigo’s new album even though i’ve been single my whole entire life and never experienced a breakup
— holly (@prentissinparis) May 21, 2021
She can make even the most single person you know cry over a failed relationship . . . when they’ve had none. That’s Rodrigo’s power. Bow to her.
30 year olds listening to this Olivia Rodrigo album pic.twitter.com/bYEuaCNbGK
— Josselyn Berry (@joss_berry) May 21, 2021
Well, a teenager can make us feel a lot. We get it.
thank u Olivia Rodrigo for so many songs to cry at night before i go to sleep pic.twitter.com/neGh8ECOti
— karla (@braveghost91) May 21, 2021
She’s inspiring all kinds of reactions. Frankly, we’re not complaining. She’s just inspiring more art.
BRB, we’re just going to put stickers on our faces, grab some wine, and have a whole-hearted crying session to the beats of SOUR.