On September 18th, Olivia Rodrigo fans worldwide were finally given the complete album they all had anticipated for months.
At first, Olivia Rodrigo’s fanbase started early in her life when she played main Disney roles in Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Because her fame started at such a young age, she attracted a younger audience. When she started writing music, it was by a younger audience, for a younger audience. But, like everyone else, young artists grow up too.
Olivia Rodrigo wrote this album about growing pains and figuring out her identity. In this album, she wrote about the struggles of a breakup while you’re still young and in love with someone, and overall the endeavors of going through the years to adulthood.
The lead single for this album was “Vampire,” released on June 30th, 2023, though she had been posting teasers about the new album since late 2022. “Vampire” is arguably the best song on the album. While I’ve never really had a likeness for breakup songs, the way that Olivia Rodrigo performed the song left a sort of energetic emotional essence that I could find myself enjoying in the car, or while trying to clean my room.
Every song on the album was put together in a way that people can jam out and relate to in many different situations, but I would say that “Lacy” is not a personal favorite for me. The song starts off with mainly vocals as the focal point, then it becomes more of a blend of harmonies as she’s singing, and finishes off the same way. Although the lyrics are so enjoyable, I personally just felt as if the song wasn’t a broad spread of genres that she had expressed and showed more of Taylor Swift, her inspiration, than her own self.
Similar in emotion to “Vampire”, the next song I could find myself enjoying in the car is “Bad Idea Right?” This song was another hit single released before the full album on August 11, 2023, and just kept the overall energy that seemed to be her own.
While the entire album of different genres and related topics could be highly enjoyable for some, I could only find myself listening to a couple of the songs. Overall, I enjoyed listening to the album to help broaden my music taste, and exploring a newer artist for me.
