Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR

 

'brutal', a track of teenage angst, is a decent opener to Olivia Rodrigo's debut album 'SOUR.' The guitar riffs are nicely punk-flavoured while Rodrigo does fine in emoting angst within her vocal delivery. After 'brutal, it does not take long for Olivia Rodrigo to begin the melodramatic break-up nature of the album with 'traitor', a mediocre break-up ballad where Rodrigo feels betrayed by her former love interest. Now, she has to bear witness to her former love interest showing off his new love, someone Rodrigo was paranoid about, 'like a trophy.'

Despite its pleasant piano pattern and low-key synths, percussion and claps, Rodrigo's breakthrough single 'drivers licence' does suffer from her ending the chorus in an anti-climatic fashion. Following '1 step forward, 3 steps back,' an alright track of Rodrigo reflecting on a toxic relationship with her former love interest, the album does spark some momentum at 'deja vu.' Instrumentally, the transition from satisfying saxophone, flutes and chimes to a spiralling riff is enjoyable, supplementing Rodrigo as she soothingly questions her former love interest if being with his new lover is giving him 'deja vu.'

Following the decent 'good 4 U,' which features groovy, upbeat guitar riffs, Rodrigo venting about her ex-lover does get tiring. Especially at tracks, 'enough for U' and 'happier.' Fortunately, Rodrigo does finally touch on the new subject matter of low self-esteem on 'jealously, jealously.' In the track, Rodrigo finds herself envious as she negatively compares herself to 'girls too good to be true, with paperwhite  teeth and perfect bodies.' Rodrigo wishes she does not care, but the envy feels 'like that weight on her back.' Sadly, 'jealously, jealously' is sonically mediocre.

Nearing the end of the record, Rodrigo does deliver her best vocal performance at 'favourite crime.' Despite returning to the album's already tired break-up theme, Rodrigo is almost angelic, especially at the final chorus and outro of the song. 'hope ur ok' is a satisfying conclusion. Over acoustics, Rodrigo sweetly reminisces about two old friends, both who seemingly suffered from abuse, while hopeful of their well-being.

Despite Rodrigo being vocally consistent, the break-up theme overstayed its welcome within 'SOUR,' resulting in some insufferable moments. Hopefully, Rodrigo does evolve from being rather over-focused on her ex-lover and deliver a more grounded effort in her next record. 

Best Track(s): deja vu, favourite crime, hope ur ok 

5.75/10.

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