{"id":862349,"date":"2026-06-12T14:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862349\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:18:17","slug":"review-olivia-rodrigos-new-album-is-her-best-work-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862349\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Olivia Rodrigo’s new album is her best work yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s<\/a> done it again. Her third album, \u201cYou seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,\u201d is her best yet \u2014 a giant step forward for the songwriter who emerged a promising young talent before she could even parallel park.<\/p>\n

Across 13 tracks, Rodrigo telegraphs the story of a romance \u2014 from a first date to its dissolution, with a lot of self-realization along the way. It\u2019s a concept album about a first big love \u2014 one that dares to dive into the revelation that sometimes the greatest mirror is revealing yourself to another.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s introduction to Rodrigo arrived with the power ballad heard \u2018round the world: 2021\u2019s smash \u201cdrivers license,\u201d<\/a> leading to her spirited power pop-punk debut, \u201cSOUR.\u201d<\/a> Then came \u201cGUTS,\u201d<\/a> a musical maturation from an artist entering her 20s, and an acute reminder that there are few forces more potent than a young creative woman\u2019s dissatisfaction \u2014 if she so chooses to wield it. <\/p>\n

And she did, like on the Babes In Toyland-esque \u201cAll-American Bitch,\u201d inspired by Joan Didion\u2019s<\/a> \u201cThe White Album,\u201d or \u201cPretty Isn\u2019t Pretty,\u201d with its dreamy guitar tones that recalled The Cure. That song might\u2019ve been the best indication of what was to come. The first single from her latest album, \u201cDrop Dead,\u201d name-checks the \u201880s band\u2019s best-known love song, \u201cJust Like Heaven.\u201d The second was titled \u201cThe Cure,\u201d with its orchestral strings and an explosive bridge. And the third song, revealed onstage at Barcelona\u2019s Primavera Festival just ahead of the album\u2019s release? Her first-ever collaboration, \u201cWhat\u2019s Wrong with Me,\u201d a duet with The Cure mastermind Robert Smith.<\/a> The Cure\u2019s lush guitar tones are also heard on the standout \u201cMaggots for Brains\u201d \u2014 gothic love songs, Rodrigo\u2019s got a few.<\/p>\n

On \u201cYou seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,\u201d she once again teamed up with principal collaborator Dan Nigro, and their partnership has been further refined. Their productions, now more complicated, nuanced and vibrant with the addition of elements like string arrangements, have a sort of ease of presentation: His emo guitars are still heard on \u201cPurple,\u201d now delivered with multi-track harmonics. Her playful expressions of girlhood crushing remain intact; now through \u201890s jangly guitar pop influences (\u201cu + me = 3,\u201d an easy contender for one of the best songs she\u2019s ever written.)<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a lot of exciting new territory here. The cheerleading cadence of the synth-y \u201cMy Way\u201d evokes the punk sounds of Kathleen Hanna\u2019s Le Tigre project.<\/a> By the time Rodrigo reaches her \u201cExpectations\u201d on track 12, she\u2019s pulling from the New Romantics movement\u2019s ebullient synths and robotic vocals in a cheeky tune about hooking up with Mr. Wrong to realize it\u2019s time for Mr. Right.<\/p>\n

At every corner, there\u2019s something to celebrate. When Rodrigo cheers \u201cNobody\u2019s wanted somebody more\u201d in the Swiftian refrain<\/a> on the ballad fake out \u201cStupid Song,\u201d she ascends. Those wanting her delicate moments will want to zoom to the piano-forward \u201cHoneybee,\u201d which features choirlike background vocals, partially courtesy her friend Conan Gray<\/a> \u2014 or the acoustic \u201cBegged,\u201d with its overdubbed vocal harmonies. Or even the broken \u201cLess,\u201d with its clever devastation. But it\u2019s the big feeling up-tempo moments listeners will want to live within.<\/p>\n

There are no unimpeachable formulas in music, but there is a widely held belief that a first album is an introduction \u2014 the one an artist has their whole life to work on \u2014 the second builds off the first and the third is a moment of catharsis. Ideally, on that record, they\u2019ve arrived at a more evolved version of who they\u2019ve worked to become. Nothing is so simple, of course, but Rodrigo seems to be a shining example. She seems pretty self-actualized, for a girl so open to falling hard.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\u201cYou seem pretty sad for a girl so in love\u201d by Olivia Rodrigo<\/p>\n

Four and a half stars out of five.<\/p>\n

On repeat: \u201cu + me = 3,\u201d \u201cMaggots for Brains,\u201d \u201cThe Cure\u201d<\/p>\n

Skip it: \u201cHoneybee\u201d<\/p>\n

For fans of: Guitar pop, big hooks, bigger heart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s done it again. Her third album, \u201cYou seem pretty sad for a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":862350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,100547,351691,171,57,197792,351692,256631,975,11324,22854,22852,61,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-862349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-conan-gray","tag-dan-nigro","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-joan-didion","tag-kathleen-hanna","tag-maria-sherman","tag-music","tag-music-reviews","tag-olivia-rodrigo","tag-robert-smith","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116737573460813848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}