Olivia + me = <3.
Olivia Rodrigo has swung her way back into the music industry with her new album. Despite one of her new tracks being titled “stupid song,” the new record is anything but stupid.
Olivia Rodrigo released her highly anticipated third album, “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” June 12. The album features a total of 13 songs, with one song, “what's wrong with me,” featuring fellow musician Robert Smith, the frontman of post-punk band The Cure.
The album is truly unlike anything the 23-year-old singer has delivered in her past two albums, “SOUR” and “GUTS.” It consistently delivers an original sound unique from both Rodrigo’s own work and her musical peers’.
Rodrigo’s third album incorporates a mixture of slow, sad melodies colliding with upbeat tunes. Numerous times, such as on “stupid song” and “purple,” I thought the song would remain backed by a piano and sung solemnly. But soon enough, drums slowly beat in the background, a guitar began to shred and the atmosphere of the song suddenly and seamlessly shifted.
The curation of the album is complex and exciting, with so much variety within each song. Each song sounds entirely different than the last one, standing out in its own way and making the experience an absolute whirlwind.
The new release tells the story of the ups and downs of falling in and out of love, following one of Rodrigo’s own relationships. She split the album down the middle into two parts: those “ups” and those “downs.”
“girl so in love,” the title of the first section, follows Rodrigo’s experiences of falling in love. The melodies are typically upbeat, but many feature the aforementioned shift in atmosphere within the songs.
The lyrics are quite loving, showcasing Rodrigo’s writing strengths and ability to tell a beautiful story. One of the songs in this section, “honeybee,” was admitted to be the first love song Rodrigo had written.
Throughout the album, Rodrigo is falling more in love with the album’s subject. However, some of the songs, while upbeat, are written to be the antithesis of love songs. “maggots for brains” tells a more concerning story of how attached she is to this person, and any moment of their absence ruins her life.
This section can’t — and shouldn’t — be boiled down to love songs; it holds much more complexity than that. It handles feelings like adoration, jealousy, anger, yearning and mourning.
“you seem pretty sad,” the album’s second section, tells the story of falling out of love. The songs here describe more of a tragedy and focus on slower melodies.
Her 12th song on the album, “expectations,” is the only song in this section more cheerful melodically — but not lyrically. The other songs rely on piano and guitar to convey the devastating emotion behind the lyrics.
To me, this section doesn’t stand out as much as “girl so in love.” The songs are beautiful, captivating and sound quite unique, but they tell the same story and explore similar emotions across each song. The former section handles more emotions, and each song generally tackles a different topic. However, it doesn’t diminish the tragedy and pure feelings of grief Rodrigo successfully conveys.
Prior to the album’s official release, Rodrigo gave a taste of what audiences can expect with her first two singles.
“drop dead” was the first single off the album, released April 17. It is fun, electronic and catchy. Her second single, “the cure,” released May 22. This song is quite different from the first single; it’s sadder, with an orchestra, guitars and drums backing her solemn lyricism.
The release of the vastly different singles showed Rodrigo’s variety as a musician and established that this album was always going to stand out against her other work.
She also performed some of her non-singles before release, debuting “begged” on Saturday Night Live and “what’s wrong with me” with Robert Smith at Primavera Sound 2026.
The album’s weakest part is its singles. While showcasing her diversity as a musician, they were incredibly safe options.
When compared to the whole of the album, “drop dead” falls flat. It comes off as a song prioritized for the radio rather than a song that reflects the album. “the cure” is also quite safe for this section of music, and it feels like Rodrigo was nervous to officially showcase the slower melodies before release, which is why she resorted to performances of them over official releases.
Her third single, “stupid song,” was released with the album. This song is quite fun, boasting interesting and complex lyricism. Out of the three singles, this one is the strongest, and it should have been released as a pre-album single instead.
I’ve been waiting for Rodrigo’s third album for quite some time, and I can say that I am not disappointed in the album in the least. I think it is quite complex and dives into so many different emotions from different points of view. It’s the rawest and realest we’ve seen the musician.
From a musical standpoint, the album has a song for everybody. It can be catchy, slow, fun, moving, powerful or sentimental.
“you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” shows the endless and ever-evolving capabilities of Olivia Rodrigo as a musician.
Contact Mackenzie Haas at mhaas@alligator.org
