Olivia Rodrigo - Sour

Pop – Released May 21, 2021 – 11 songs, 35 mins

*****BUZZ PICK*****

LUNDI

Youngest female SNL musical guest is quite the way to bust on the scene. None other than Olivia Rodrigo, the 18 year old phenom who has taken the world by storm with her debut album Sour. The accolades don’t stop there for the pop star as she destroyed record sales and streaming records with 8 of 11 tracks simultaneously appearing on Billboard’s Streaming Top 10 and 3 tracks simultaneously appearing in the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Simply insane. Do you remember what you were doing at 18? 

Sour is a petty prototypical breakup album but despite its heavily explored subject Rodrigo excels at making you feel her pain with every note. The album certainly draws influences from pop stars before but Lorde (‘Drivers License’ and ‘Hope U R Ok’) and Hayley Williams/Paramore (‘Brutal’ and ‘Good 4 U’) particularly stand out. Musically the album isn’t ground breaking but it’s tight and does what it needs to do. 

The biggest fault with Sour is that it wanted to be a full length album but didn’t have the material to be a full length album. Sour is so focused on the subject matter (ex boyfriend heartbreak) for the first 8 tracks it completely loses the listener by straying from what made the album so powerful in the first place: her heartbreak. Songs ‘Jealousy, Jealousy’ and ‘Favorite Crime’ lack continuity with the subject matter and take away from the overall impact of the album. Rodrigo could have done well to follow the Billie Eilish approach and make her debut an EP. 

Rodrigo is at her best on Sour when she is heartfelt and leans into the angst of her heartbreak. It’s an overall well crafted pop album and I expect it will be looked on that way for many years. This isn’t post hype praise, it’s well deserved.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10

Favorite Song: drivers license

ROZ

Ah, teen angst - the nostalgia. Now I’m not Gen Z by any means (Millennial here thanks) but that doesn’t mean I can’t harken back to my teenage years and dig into a coming-of-age pop album properly. Olivia Rodrigo has been all over the place lately, I mean she even played on SNL as a 17 year old with only one album under her belt. What does this mean for Too Sweet Reviews you ask? The hype is there and the people need answers. Is this album actually good? Let’s find out!

It’s not hard to tell that Miss Rodrigo, of Disney fame, has peppered this album with her particular musical influences. Right out of the gate, it feels like the product of Lorde and Taylor Swift getting together and writing songs about their ex-boyfriends. Is that a bad thing necessarily? Not in the slightest! The fact is, when you stand on the shoulders of giants you better bring that heat. This begs the question: how does it actually sound?

While I’m definitely not in her target demographic there were a few standout tracks that I enjoyed very much. My favorite of the bunch ended up being deja vu, which didn’t hit the charts or get any airplay but took the most risks musically; something I typically look for in mainstream music. The synth swells, the lofi drum breaks, the various percussion and keys, it all came together fantastically. I found it broke the mold of cookie cutter pop and really gave the album a special texture that a lot of these pop albums lack. Again, the lyrics are about teenage girls fighting over boys, but as a production guy myself I really do appreciate each element as the sum of it’s parts and enjoy whats behind the curtain just as much as the lyrics on the piece.

This rang true for another song, jealousy jealousy. I really loved the bass guitar groove on this one and the piano was catchy as hell. Her calm, “speaking to you” style of singing was soothing while also exemplifying her fantastic singing voice. The misfires and imperfections on the piano really added to the tension and emotion behind the song as well which I found to be a really nice touch. Favorite crime was another highlight on the album as I found her vocal talents really shined in this one. Slow and acoustic, sliding up and down the frets, this one felt raw; real good stuff.

Did I like them all? I mean I was definitely “whelmed” by a bunch of songs. Brutal was a decent opener that gave me “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” pop punk vibes but left me wanting more. Traitor had some catchy chord progressions on the guitar but was otherwise forgettable. Both 1 step forward 3 steps back and good 4 u were so far up Taylor Swifts ass you could probably come out the other side. Drivers license, enough for you, happier, hope ur ok - dripping in teen angst, but just didn’t push any boundaries or try anything new.

Overall, it’s like a good recipe you’d find in a pop music cookbook. What happens when you take a cup of Taylor swift, a pinch of Lorde and a dash of Billie Eilish? I mean you get a pretty damn good meal. At the end of the day her voice is fantastic, a lot of the songs are catchy and clearly her music resonates with a large audience. For me personally, I’m excited for when she has a few albums under her belt and starts to get weird with it - until then I’ll be looking forward to what her future may hold.

Overall Rating: 7.3/10

Favorite Song: deja vu

REID

If you told me a year ago I’d be doing a deep dive into a pop album by an 18 year old, High School Musical phenom - well man, after 2020 I’d probably believe you. Here we are, with miss Olivia Rodrigo. To date I’ve kept sports out of my reviews but the greatest sports franchise in the world, les Canadiens de Montreal, are in the Stanley Cup Final and I don’t know when this will happen again so I’m mixing in a little. Two nights ago, Hockey Night in Canada’s opening montage used Rodrigo’s ‘brutal’ and it was pretty damn good. Twitter’s positive reaction just shows how quickly she has exploded onto the music scene. Anyway, Lightning are up 2-0, game 3 is tonight and hopefully I can look back on this in a few years as the review that preceded the comeback. LFGHG!

So let’s state the obvious, a young man broke Olivia’s heart. Sour is a 35-minute compilation of songs on her struggle with a failing relationship, subsequent breakup and life thereafter. Her renditions of micro cheating, love, hate, loss and regret are pretty impressive. All very relevant topics for just about everyone. Mix in her incredible singing voice and her success should come as no surprise. She opens the album with the aforementioned ‘brutal’, a track with a heavy guitar and some attitude. It flows pretty well from here on out, peaking for me at track 3 with ‘driver’s license’ and the very clever, ‘déjà vu’ at 5. A nice mix of instruments used but that voice is the obvious highlight. I’m pretty well over it by song 9, ‘jealousy jealousy’, due to decreased song quality and 26 minutes of a sad teenager. Condescending but my reality.

I read someone compare Sour to Jagged Little Pill and I thought whoa whoa whoa, let’s not get carried away here. I’m sure Olivia Rodrigo already exceeded all expectations with her debut album and we may as well get used to it because she’s just getting started.

Overall Rating: 7.2/10

Favorite Song - drivers license