While this isn’t an album, I’ve been dying to talk about it (see what I did there). Olivia Rodrigo is a 23-year-old former Disney Channel star turned pop-rock singer who has announced the release of her third studio album (OR3).
The album’s release is planned for June 12, but she began teasing the album on her Instagram account on April 6. This proposed album will follow the love story and ending of Rodrigo’s recent relationship with Louis Partridge. The couple was together for the years in between her last album, “Guts,” and her newest album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love.”
“Drop Dead” is the first single released for “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love.” Rodrigo had an interesting marketing campaign for the release. She placed love locks in major cities, Los Angles, London, Paris and Hoboken, New Jersey. This mirrors the tradition of couples writing their initials on a lock, securing it to a fence and getting rid of the key. All hints on the locks led to the release date for “Drop Dead” which was on April 17 along with its music video.
I was nervous for this release. Mostly because I’m a long time Olivia Rodrigo fan, but also because everytime she drops an album a big life event happens for me and I’m just not ready for that. I also wasn’t sure I would like it.
Rumors of her music style changing circulated the internet before its release. Rodrigo had been on a long path towards rock music and now was taking a twist towards what she described as “Lana Del Rey’s style” which I am not a fan of. However, I did not give up hope after hearing Phoebe Bridgers (a sad rock girlie I adore) had assisted with the writing of the album.
So, now for my review. I LOVE this song. Apple music is probably confused about my music taste because this has been on repeat in my car since its release. It’s odd to get a happy song from Rodrigo, but not too odd since it still has a tinge of something darker. You know, like dropping dead.
She does lean a little more pop throughout the song, but I’ll forgive her for that. The pop genre is her roots, but her music video features her shedding her guitar which is just classic “Guts” Olivia.
That leads me to one small point, fans were very disappointed that OR3 didn’t follow the same four letter word naming convention as the first two. Even more so disappointed that she teased the name “Love” and then got a full sentence for an album name. I’m pretty indifferent to this discourse, although I think the long title is very unique. Unfortunately, it’ll be a mouthful to say.
Back to the song. It’s comforting to hear her sing about love and I’m interested to see where the album goes since this seems to be the beginning of the story. The song follows Rodrigo meeting her ex-boyfriend through stalking him on the internet and how she visions their relationship.
The bridge is where the beginning cracks of the relationship show. She says “pisces and a gemini / but I think we might go really nice together,” and anyone who knows just a little about astrology knows these two are not compatible.
Mentioning zodiac signs in the album’s debut single also had fans speculating about the release dates. The complete album will drop days from Partridge’s birthday, in gemini season.
I for one am excited to see how this album compares to her others and I am hopeful for another single release before June.
