I don’t usually do current music. It’s very rare for me to like the same music as my co-workers and kids. Here’s a big exception. Olivia Rodrigo is incredible. She’s a great songwriter, a great singer, and a great lyricist. The style has modern touches and tones but is firmly based in melody and harmony and chords — ya know, music.
The whole album is about one universal topic we can all relate to, being in love, being dumped, dealing with all of it. Listening to her music reminds you what it was like to be a teenager trying to figure out love and life, and feeling everything so strongly the pain was overwhelming. If you don’t get an emotional response from her music, there’s something dead inside of you (Saturday Night Live gets it).
Which song to pick? The whole album is great. Drivers License (the main single) is excellent, but not the tops for me. Here are my two favorites. (These songs are better enjoyed without video. Press play, go to another browser window while listening. There’s nothing particularly bad about the videos, but neither is so great either.)
Deja Vu: A weird part of getting old — artists you grew up with being referenced as obscure acts from the historical past by current acts. Still, a great Billy Joel namedrop!
Favorite Crime: What a lovely little fingerpicking pattern. The vocals kill me when she comes back from the break. Every teenager experiments with breaking the rules. You don’t have to be an actual criminal, or dated one, to feel the pull of doing bad things with someone.
Since my readers are overwhelmingly my demographic, what do you all think of her? Do your kids like her, do you?
It’d be funny if her next album was nothing but empty sugar pop songs.
Yes, the original quote was from Mrs. Muttrox, in reference to The Grapes of Wrath. Which I also liked a bit.
In case anyone was wondering, both of these comments are from Mrs. Muttrox
-Mrs Muttrox
“If you don’t get an emotional response from her music, there’s something dead inside of you” — Mrs. Muttrox once something VERY similar about “The Grapes of Wrath”. Attribution needed
Olivia Rodrigo may be the one thing that the Goldmans of Atlanta agree on.
I also really like “Traitor”. I do wish Olivia could lighten up once in a while, though. She’s a beautiful, phenomenally success young woman. Life is not so bad, right?