Sticking to her pop ballad roots, Olivia Rodrigo released her highly anticipated third studio album on Friday. Soft launching the album by dropping “begged” and “drop dead” as the first drops off her album, she gave fans a taste of what it means to be in love.
The 13-track album took listeners on a heartbreak roller coaster with songs like “begged” and “u + me = <3.” Rodrigo stayed true to the album title, touching fans with relatable songs about difficult relationships that are both happy and sad.
Following the rise and fall of a relationship, the second track off the album, “stupid song,” which fans speculate is about her recent relationship with actor Louis Partridge, dives into what yearning feels like. With lyrics like, “I’m a car speeding down the boulevard without a brake / I want you more than any stupid song could ever say,” the song shows how being in love takes over someone’s life.
Despite the album giving fans the highs of a relationship with love songs, the roller coaster of a relationship goes to its lowest point with “my way.” Rodrigo changes the pace with a rock-type drum beat, following the anger of male-female friendships during a relationship with lyrics like “You’re in my way now / Don’t go, go where you don’t belong.” The chorus of the sixth track shows Rodrigo’s range from being a pop star with soft vocals to this phase of rock with higher vocals, reminiscent of a Paramore song.
Keeping in touch with the tumultuous nature of having a partner, “the cure” follows the downhill realization of a relationship. Rodrigo takes fans through the inner workings of her mind and how she realized that her partner was not the “antidote” for her feelings of sadness and loneliness. Unsure of how love could help her, Rodrigo sings “I thought I found the antidote, with you / But my head is full of poison / And my heart is full of doubt.”
This album also gave way for many references to the English band The Cure. With lyrics from “drop dead” like “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’ / And I know why he wrote them now that you’re standin’ right here,” the band weaves its influence into the album. Rodrigo also included a collaboration with lead singer of The Cure, Robert Smith, “what’s wrong with me.”
Her closing track, “cigarette smoke,” relates to getting over an ex relationship and metaphorizes the lingering smell of cigarette smoke. The pre-chorus hits hard as Rodrigo says, “I regret you / And how long I stayed / I resent you / For not being brave, oh,” closing out the album and her last relationship.
Rodrigo’s third studio album hit the mark on what it means to be in a relationship that should be good and happy, but having to come to terms that it may be the wrong situation. The album title truly summarizes how every song shows that even though someone can be so in love, the relationship can eventually lead a person to lose themselves.
4 cures out of 5
