Sour - Olivia Rodrigo (2021)

Ideated from: it’s Bring Your Daughter To Blog week. She gave me a list of a whole week’s worth of things she wanted me to listen to.

OK, so I don’t want to preach a homily, especially when I enjoyed this so much, but just a point of view. In her big hit, Driver’s License, Rodrigo mentions that she can’t parallel park because she’s just starting to drive (ed. - the line is actually in Brutal. sorry). Now I am finishing out my 40s, and I also can’t parallel park very well. I don’t think I’m alone in this, and I think part of growing up is navigating through (and out of) situations where you might have to embarrass yourself by trying to parallel park. I once paid $40 for event parking for an event I wasn’t going to so I didn’t have to parallel park. But learning when it is and isn’t worth causing yourself embarrassment and frustration is part of growing up.

I don’t fault Rodrigo for anything here, but it struck me that a lot of the other very sharply-rendered, complex feelings on this record are of a similar bent. Heartbreak and betrayal and inadequacy all suck, and I don’t mean to say that it stops sucking at any point. But when you’re young, that’s the first time you’re dealing with these things, and if you feel the worst you’ve ever felt in your life, it’s partly because this is the worst you’ve ever felt in your life. But you learn eventually that these things can be navigated through and around so they don’t have the same impact every time they happen.

Which really just makes it that much more remarkable how she’s able to deliver these songs to speak to my cold, dead, grown-up heart. It’s been a long time since I’ve worried about a breakup or its aftermath, but I got wedged deep down inside the ones on this record until it hurt.

Tracks I Liked

Drivers License - I mean… there’s a good reason it was a huge hit. Melodically borrows a pretty heavily from Joni Mitchell’s The River, but who could fault anybody for that?

Enough For You - a brutally insightful tune about self-esteem and projecting your needs onto someone else.

Jealousy Jealousy - Kind of doing a Billie Eilish impression. Because she’s… jealous? Don’t know. But it’s a great tune.