Review: Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Is a Sharp, If Myopic, Portrait of Adolescent Angst

The 18-year-old possesses both a knack for stealthy pop hooks and a vocal control beyond her years.

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Photo: Interscope/Geffen

Despite having so much of human history literally in the palm of their hands, Gen Z seems almost exclusively interested in post-20th-century pop culture. An ostensible lack of curiosity about anything outside their hermetically sealed social networks, as well as the ironic feedback loop of self-curation on streaming services like Spotify, are the most likely, if not the most satisfying, explanations. Eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, though, is an apparent exception to the rule: She name-checks Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” on her single “Deja Vu,” and credits her mom’s record collection for her enthusiasm for ’90s-era alternative rock.

The latter’s influence can be heard on the former Disney star’s debut, Sour, which opens with an explosion of raucous rock guitar, bass, and drums. The self-lacerating lyrics of the song, “Brutal,” are as dry as concrete, delivered with a sporadic British affect that nods to ’70s punk and makes clear that this is no Katy Perry album: “I’m so sick of 17/Where’s my fucking teenage dream?/[If] someone tells me one more time ‘Enjoy your youth,’ I’m gonna cry.” Later, the self-penned “Happier” plays out like a deconstructed doo-wop song, its whirling piano and swooning strings evoking the simplicity of gymnasium school dances and love in the time before smartphones.

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But Rodrigo isn’t a nostalgia act, as she’s clearly plugged in to her generation’s insecurities and preoccupations, and she effortlessly alternates between a disaffected vocal style similar to that of Billie Eilish and distorted yelps reminiscent of a young Kim Deal. Even when her lyrics venture beyond the purview of her own adolescent anxieties, as on the shoegaze-y closing song, “Hope Ur Ok,” they’re thematically limited in scope, revolving around heartbreak and, to quote the title of one searing track, “jealousy, jealousy.” “You got me fucked up in the head, boy/Never doubted myself so much/Like am I pretty, am I fun, boy/I hate that I give you power over that kind of stuff,” she laments on “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” which is based around a piano figure from Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day.”

Swift is, in fact, an obvious point of reference throughout Sour. The standout “Traitor” is a withering kiss-off about emotional infidelity (“It took you two weeks to go off and date her/Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor”), while the hit “Drivers License,” though indebted to Swift’s brand of naked confessionals, soars to heights that Folklore and Evermore intentionally sidestepped. That song expertly distills how the littlest of things can be the most crushing: “I got my driver’s license last week/Just like we always talked about…But today I drove through the suburbs/Crying ‘cause you weren’t around.”

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Rodrigo’s laser-focused narratives might feel even more myopic if the album weren’t so economical—11 songs in just over half an hour—and at times the singer’s nods to musical modes of the past are more derivative than studied. “Good 4 U” doesn’t reach back quite far enough to feel fresh, settling for the Avril Lavigne-grade pop-punk of the early 2000s (complete with half-rapped verses), while the folky “Enough for You” lands on just the wrong side of twee. But like Eilish and Lorde before her, Rodrigo possesses both a knack for stealthy pop hooks and a vocal control beyond her years. And even if Sour doesn’t quite transcend its myriad influences, it might at least inspire her fans to Google the Piano Man.

Score: 
 Label: Interscope/Geffen  Release Date: May 21, 2021  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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