Album Review: SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo

The last few months we have seen Olivia Rodrigo release several tracks all telling a story about how her young love turned ‘sour’. After her huge single ‘driver’s license’ took the billboard by storm reaching the top 100 and then stayed for eight months! The artist kept on going and saw the same positive result for her single ‘déjà vu’; a song which touched on the agony of having to watch your old partner move on and be happy with somebody else.

Then shortly followed by the release of her new album ‘sour’ which feels like you’re going through her heartbreak of being replaced by another girl with her. The album explores the different levels of heartbreak and the different stages of its cycle; an album which all of the teenage girls are currently loving.

The album-which explores pop and punk both equally as well- explores the issues of the unsteady self and the way in which people comfort themselves with heartbreak. It is an album about learning to accept the endings and learning how to embrace yourself for who you are; also, whilst keeping a smile on your face.

Rodrigo explores the challenges of this through her music as it is all from her own experience. Her success has saw her shoot high as her music has begun to take over; from Tiktok to the Top Charts.

She works through an evolution of real time heartbreak throughout the album when at first in ‘driver’s license’ she shows she is still unsure of who she may become; ‘Today I drove through the suburbs and pictured I was driving home to you’ still at a stage of being unable to let go.

In ‘déjà vu’ she talks about how her ex’s new relationship is so similar to their own “When you gonna tell her that we did that to?” and then towards the end of the song she sings about how she now feels like she wasn’t anything special to him: “I hate to think that I was just your type”.

Each song dictating its own meaning and its own story; I won’t spoil any others as once you listen you’ll know exactly what I mean!

Her song writing skills have truly flourished throughout the album as each song displays so many emotions; each one being even more relatable than the one before. From going from a Disney performer to such a well-known artist is an achievement in itself; however, she takes this whilst remaining true to herself as she aims to show that the only persons opinion that matters is your own.