FEATURE:
The Most Impressive Debut Album of 2021
Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR
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ALTHOUGH there was close competition…
from Arlo Parks’ Collapsed on Sunbeams (one of the best albums of 2021), and girl in red’s if I could make it go quiet, I think the best debut album of this year comes from Pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo. Even though one of my favourite albums of the year, Joy Crookes’ Skin, is a debut album and I really love it, I wanted to single out another album (even though London-based Crookes is exceptional). In terms of its confidence, width and quality, SOUR is my choice for the most impressive and bold introduction album of 2021. The Californian-born eighteen-year-old Rodrigo is an exciting Pop proposition primed for big things. I am not a huge fan of modern Pop, but I think Rodrigo is an inventive and fresh talent that is worthy of the hype and acclaim. She explained how SOUR explores her discoveries as a seventeen-year-old, with its title referring to the ‘sour’ emotions young people experience but are often criticised for, such as anger, jealousy, and unhappiness. Spanning balladry and Emo-spiked bangers, SOUR is an accomplished album where Rodrigo is credited as songwriting on each of the eleven tracks (she even wrote enough for you and happier solo). Reaching number one in the U.K. and U.S., SOUR is a remarkable album that anyone can pick up with no prior knowledge and enjoy. I am keen to get to some positive reviews for a mighty debut. Prior to that, NYLON interviewed Olivia Rodrigo earlier in the year about her breakthrough period and the arrival of her debut studio album:
“I’m so excited!” says the 18-year-old, leaning in towards the computer monitor the way you might IRL. She is excited to be in the U.K., excited to perform at the 2021 BRIT Awards, excited to meet her hero Taylor Swift, excited to release her first album, SOUR, out May 21, excited that her music career has brought her here, to this moment.
And why wouldn’t she be? Nobody is having a better year. In January, “drivers license” debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and eviscerated Spotify’s record for the most song streams in a week. Her first ever performance of the song was on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Her follow-up single, the psychedelic pop “deja vu,” scored 20.3 million streams in the U.S. in the first week of release. Then there was the Saturday Night Live sketch where the show’s male talent (Kenan Thompson, Pete Davidson, Bowen Yang, and crew) were moved to tears by “drivers license.” Less than three months later, and she’s the show’s musical guest, performing her third song as a soloist, the dance-y pop-punk barn-burner “good 4 u.”
You could call it quick, but you can’t say it’s without merit. Rodrigo’s talent as a songwriter is so apparent, it has nearly eclipsed the teen star drama that accompanied her debut. (In short: Rodrigo’s costar and rumored ex, Joshua Bassett, was spotted with fellow teen star Sabrina Carpenter, who sounds a lot like the older blonde of “drivers license”; Bassett and Carpenter released what fans believed were rebuttal songs.) Although Rodrigo sings about her insecurities, during our Zoom interview she talks about her craft and production with the self-assurance of someone who knows we’re going to be talking about it for years to come. “There are therapeutic benefits to songwriting,” she tells me. “Whenever I’m feeling upset, I go to the piano. I go to the piano before I call a friend.” But she still marvels at the power that music — her music! — holds: “You can literally create a whole song in your bedroom, and it can affect millions of people.”
Let’s talk songs: "deja vu" compares your ex’s new relationship to your own without pitting two women against each other.
I am obsessed with the concept of déjà vu. I had in my Notes app, "When she's with you, do you get déjà vu?" My producer and collaborator Dan Nigro and I were sitting at the piano; we were writing a sadder, or more down-tempo song. He was like, "Eh, this is not very good. Let's try something else." I was scrolling through my Notes app and that [line] came up, and we were like, "Oh, that's a clever play on déjà vu." And so we built this whole world. [Pitting women against each other] is just not something I subscribe to or think about in my daily life. Ever. It's not something that I'm like, "Oh, I can't write songs about that because that's bad." I really don't genuinely feel that way. I mean, obviously I compare myself to people all the time, and lots of my songs are about that, but it's never a competition. So yeah, I'm really happy with it. I'm also really happy with how much of a departure it is from the "drivers license" world, both in attitude and in sonics. I hope that I can keep showing versatility in my songwriting.
A lot of social psychologists think déjà vu is common with people who are stressed-out or anxious.
Really? That makes so much sense for me. It's just the coolest, weirdest experience ever. It's so trippy, the song itself.
PHOTO CREDIT: AB+DM
It’s so trippy, and so is “jealousy, jealousy.” The bass intro, the harmonies with yourself, the fact that you sing the word “slowly” slowly, the Fiona Apple-esque alternative piano — you shout!
That song was one of the first songs that I wrote on the record with this wonderful writer named Casey Smith. In this time period, I was super obsessed with social media. I would look for things that would hurt my feelings all the time and compare myself to everyone. I felt like my life was only what I showed to others. I didn't feel like my life was any deeper than my Instagram feed. That’s a really troubling mindset to be in as a teenager. And so I guess I wanted to write a song about that. It isn't sad or "Oh, I don't feel like I'm enough,” it’s "Oh, God, I'm so jealous." It’s tongue-in-cheek, and a little funny to me. But the sonics on the song are the reason why we put it on the record. There’s this piano in the bridge that's so convoluted and almost atonal. Sometimes it just doesn't go with the music and it's so chaotic. And I love Fiona Apple. I'm obsessed with her new record and she is definitely a big inspiration of mine. I remember thinking that I wanted to make jazzy music like her when I was younger, so I would play these jazz chords, and be like, "Nobody can do it like her. I'm not going to be able to do anything even half as good as [1996’s] Tidal was." But yeah, she's so incredible. I'm obsessed with her lyricism. She has such a good vocabulary, too. She wrote Tidal when she was 19, which is crazy to me. Just the words that she uses, she's like, "sullen girl." I'm obsessed with her.
In that 2000s era you’re referencing, the Disney stars were Miley, Demi, and Selena. They acted and made music, but it always seemed like their music careers were tethered to their Disney work. Your music feels very separate. Like, you curse on songs, and they could never! Is this a new era of pop stardom?
I’m very aware of that classic “Disney pop girl” archetype. My music is definitely separate from my acting in a way I always dreamed would happen. When “drivers license” came out, everyone was like, "I have no idea who this Olivia Rodrigo girl is, but I love this song." That is the absolute dream for me, because I've always wanted to be taken seriously as a songwriter. Being an actor can interfere with that, just because being an actor is based on telling lies, and being a songwriter is based on telling the absolute, whole truth. And people always ask me, "Oh, did you say fuck in ‘drivers license’ to show that you aren't just a Disney star?" It’s cool that people might think that, but I’m just making music that I love and that I feel passionate about. It’s who I am. I have a dirty mouth. It was what felt natural and good to me, and people resonated with that. If I am ushering in a new generation of pop stars that aren't afraid to speak their mind, that's so cool. I'm just doing my thing, though.
You are so busy! What do you do when you have some downtime?
I actually hung out with Conan [Gray] a couple days ago. Conan's the best ever. It’s really fun to start getting more artist friends who really understand the weird niche parts of being a young person in the music industry. But when I get time off, I sleep, do school, normal teenage things. I don't know. I talk to my friends a lot. My best friend in the world, her name's Madison [Hu], and I did a show with her [Disney’s Bizaardvark] when I was 14. We're just soul mates”.
Although drivers license was the song that everyone was talking about, SOUR has a lot more to it. Some of my favourite tracks – jealousy, jealousy and favorite crime – are non-singles. I feel that Rodrigo will bring out a second album within the next year. AllMusic noted the following in their review:
“Olivia Rodrigo became the brightest new pop star of 2021 with "Driver's License," the single that broke streaming records and kicked off a string of number one hits. It's easy to hear why the song was so popular: As she sang about the plans that fall apart in the wake of a breakup and the sheer magnitude of her very first heartbreak, the rawness in Rodrigo's voice and lyrics spoke to those her own age and provided some potent flashbacks for those a little -- or a lot -- older than her. On the rest of her debut album Sour, she delivers on the potential of that blockbuster single and then some. Rodrigo nails what it's like to be 17, heartbroken, and frustrated, and updates the traditions of the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued songwriters before her for Generation Z. Like her hero Taylor Swift, she's got a flair for details and a willingness to share every aspect of her heartache, even (or especially) the bitter side of it; on "Happier," she sings to her ex, "I hope you're happy/But don't be happier."
Her ability to pair a sizeable amount of disdain with equally big hooks recalls Lorde on the slinky self-loathing of "Jealousy, Jealousy," and there are even shades of Alanis Morissette's jagged, jilted younger woman in "Deja Vu"'s hyper-literate litany of tarnished memories. Rodrigo expands on "Driver's License" with similarly barbed and self-aware power ballads like "Traitor," which captures the pain when an ex rebounds more quickly than expected, and with the folky introspection of "Favorite Crime," where she reflects on how her desperation to hang onto a relationship made her culpable in her own pain. However, Sour might be even more vital when Rodrigo lashes out on the album's rock-tinged songs. She revels in her anger on "Good 4 U"'s sneering verses and pogo-ing choruses, letting the drum rolls build up a head of steam that the riffs unleash, and begins the album with a surprisingly punky blast of angst on "Brutal," where she tears down the idealization of teenage years ("I'm so sick of seventeen/Where's my fuckin' teenage dream?") over guitars that are the musical equivalent of an eyeroll. Moments like these lend another exciting dimension to her music, even if she takes a few steps beyond the rest of the album's fury on the tender closing track "Hope Ur OK." Rodrigo wants to be taken seriously as a songwriter, and she should be -- her combination of sweet melodies and bitter moods, her conversational flow, and her self-awareness are all skills many songwriters twice her age would love to call their own, and they make Sour a well-rounded emotional journey and strong debut album”.
Prior to finishing things off, I would urge people to go and buy SOUR. It is a really fantastic album. There is another review that I want to bring in. CLASH stated how Rodrigo has grown from a Disney star to a rising Pop artist in such a short period of time:
“If the past 12 months have been the weirdest in memory, then spare a thought for pop riser Olivia Rodrigo. This time last year she was a Disney star – fast forward and she’s a global icon three singles in, a teen voice already being touted as one of Gen Z’s finest.
Debut album ‘Sour’ arrives weighed down with hype and expectation, an 11 track song cycle that aims to make its mark. The banner headline of this review, then? ‘Sour’ exceeds the hype and smashes those expectations to pieces – lyrically strong, her bold, revealing, and punchy songwriting produces 11 potential smash hit singles, with each one feeling like a readymade anthem.
‘Brutal’ is a stabbing, succinct opener, recalling everyone from Garbage to Paramore via Elastica with its three chord minimalism. ‘Traitor’ opens out her pop palette a little, before the majestic, instant-classic ‘Drivers Licence’ arrives to make you fall in love with her calm, assured heartbreaker all over again.
‘Déjà vu’ sits close to the centre of the album, and Rodrigo’s heart – the buzzing digi-pop palette feels off kilter, breaking the rules because she’s too damn young to know them. ‘Good 4 U’ remains the exceptional, surging, stadium-throbbing monster it became on its release, but placed in this context her lyrical introspection becomes ever-more apparent.
‘Enough For You’ is a gorgeous hymn, perhaps the closest Olivia comes to echoing heroine – and now friend – Taylor Swift, with its ‘folklore’ esque acoustic chords. Indeed, Taylor is actually named on the credits, with ‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back’ acting as a bridge between two incredibly potent female pop voices.
Indeed, what’s revelatory on ‘Sour’ is the sheer breadth Olivia Rodrigo can occupy. Only three singles deep into her career, she’s able to move from the glorious torch song atmospherics of ‘Happier’ – a piano-pounding song of regret – to the blunt, half-spoken slacker pop of ‘Jealousy, Jealousy’.
Brought to a close with the demo-like intimacy of ‘Hope UR OK’, this is a bravura pop experience. Marked by excellence from front to back, ‘Sour’ is the sound of a bold talent operating on their own terms – potent in its execution, revealing in its lyricism, it’s a record that finds Olivia Rodrigo effortlessly claiming her status as pop’s newest icon, and one of its bravest voices”.
A stunning debut album from the American Pop artist, I wanted to spend some time extolling SOUR. It will appear in many critics’ end-of-year lists when it comes to the very best of 2021. Although it is not one of my five favourite albums of this year – Joy Crookes’ debut album, Skin, is a better album in my eyes -, SOUR is the most impressive and interesting debut album of the year. A teenage artist with so many years ahead of her, if you have not heard SOUR, then listen to it now and let it get…
UNDER your skin.