First— a melodious, sugary strum of the bass. Second — the lyrics fans will shout with the actress-turned-singer-songwriter for years to come. “Good 4 U”, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, is the third single to be released from Olivia Rodrigo’s much-anticipated debut album SOUR which was released on Friday, May 21.
Rodrigo’s third single follows the world-record-breaking single “Driver’s License” and equally as captivating “Deja Vu.” Both songs chronicle her miserable post-breakup reality in a deeply honest way. In an interview with Elle, Rodrigo explains how she wrote “Drivers License” in her living room after she spent the afternoon driving around her neighborhood “crying to Gracie Abrams songs.”
“I sat down and I wrote the verse and the chorus and the second verse and I was super obsessed with it,” Rodrigo told Elle. “I took it to my producer, Dan Nigro, who is my favorite person to make music with...and we finished the rest of the song together and he produced it.”
Nigro, who produced SOUR in its entirety, began working with Rodrigo just before the Covid-19 lockdown happened. On his Instagram Nigro mentions that after “Driver’s License” came out and Rodrigo decided to turn the EP into an album, he drove around for hours while listening to Rodrigo’s voice memos of songs and ideas she had for the album now known as SOUR.
“It doesn’t actually feel real at the moment to think that everyone gets to hear something that we’ve been working on for the last year,” Nigro wrote on Instagram after SOUR’s debut. “Olivia.... I can’t thank you enough for having me be a part of this and sharing all of your brilliant ideas with me.”
Along with Rodrigo’s first two singles and “Good 4 U,” SOUR features eight brand-new songs.
brutal
traitor
drivers license
1 step forward, 3 steps back
deja vu
good 4 u
enough for you
happier
jealousy, jealousy
favorite crime
hope ur ok.
While Nigro played a vital role in the production of the album and songwriting process, SOUR is written almost exclusively by Rodrigo— a touch that makes listening to the album an intimate experience. It’s as if Rodrigo has woven the most intricate details and emotions into the bulk of her lyrics. Like she tells Seventeen in an interview, her post-breakup life was plagued with insecurities— a fact that is reflected in SOUR and one most people can relate to. More specifically, her songs “Happier”, “jealousy, jealousy”, and “enough for you”, focus on the very feeling of thinking she’s not pretty, smart, or funny enough for her ex. Rodrigo even confesses how she tried to mold herself to fit her ex-lover’s expectations of her: “I read all of your self-help books so you’d think that I was smart.”
In SOUR, Rodrigo explores themes that go beyond the “sad, heartbroken girl” trope. She digs into her insecurities while she was in the relationship and the ones she faced afterward. John Caramani of The New York Times noted how “Sour is more than an autopsy of a doomed romance. It’s a document of personal myth-making.”
SOUR reads as Rodrigo’s personal heartbreak catharsis. Song by song, Rodrigo meticulously walks the listener through the stages of her heartbreak: “Driver’s License”, “Brutal”, “happier”, “favorite crime”, “hope ur ok”. She does so honestly— lyrically encapsulating emotions I didn’t even know could be explained with words. The profundity of her songwriting is the reason why I can scream along to “Deja Vu” and “Happier” as if I, too, have cried about an ex on the floor of my bathroom. It’s not that the story she’s relaying about heartbreak is novel— it's that she tells a story so true and specific that it feels like I'm hearing her sing the words I've only ever confided in a diary.
“I'm so myself with my songs, so when people are like, “Oh, I love your songs,” it feels like I'm being seen very deeply…” Rodrigo tells Seventeen. “It’s a songwriter’s dream to have people resonate with the songs that are close to your heart.”
As of now, Rodrigo has become the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to have two #1 debuting singles from a debut album (“Driver’s License” and “Good 4 U”). To say people resonate with her music might be an understatement. It’s due to her ability to be vulnerable in a way that doesn’t come off as fabricated— a talent not many can pull off. When Rodrigo announced the name of her album, something clicked. I have watched exes move on with beautiful girls I compare myself to. I’ve felt the anger she displays in “Good 4 U'' and “Brutal.” I have also felt the jealousy and insecurity she describes in “happier” and “enough 4 u.” But those words don’t do the heartbreak I experienced justice. I didn’t simply feel “jealous” or “mad”— it was more like agony, anger, helplessness, and pain. I felt sour.
“I'm obsessed with the word sour,” Olivia told fans on Instagram Live. “I actually tried to write a song called ‘sour’ for a long time and it just didn’t work, and I was like, oh, it's just because it's really all-encompassing. It's about this entire...very sour period of my life.”
It’s true. Sour is all-encompassing. It’s how it feels to watch the object of your heartache fall in love with someone else while you’re still realizing the end of the relationship. The phenomenon makes you sour.
But sour is the meaning, not the sound, of her music. One of the best examples of this is “Happier”. In this song, Rodrigo acknowledges that her ex has moved on. She hopes he’s happy, just not happier than he was with her. It’s a song so sweet and gentle it feels unfair to decipher its true meaning; “And do you tell her she's the most beautiful girl you've ever seen? An eternal love bullshit you know you'll never mean. Remember when I believed you meant it when you said it first to me? And now I'm pickin' her apart Like cuttin' her down make you miss my wretched heart. But she's beautiful, she looks kind, she probably gives you butterflies.”
“Every song is so personal and close to my heart,” Rodrigo writes in her most recent Instagram post announcing the release of SOUR. “Getting to share them with people is the most special thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“Good 4 U,” the sixth song on SOUR is an eclectic, fun diss-track reminiscent of a 2000s breakup song. Think “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson and “Potential Breakup Song” by Aly and AJ. Set apart from the rest of the album by an edgy, pop-punk beat, “Good 4 U” presents an energy shift that contrasts the piano-ballad “Driver’s License” and soft-sung “Deja Vu.” The progression in her music up until now reads much like Sour Patch Kids taste— sour, then sweet— in the best way.
In “Good 4 U,” Rodrigo no longer wonders if her ex is “with that blonde girl” she mentions in “Driver’s License.” She knows he’s moved on and she’s mad at him for it: “Well, good for you, I guess you moved on really easily. You found a new girl and it only took a couple weeks.”
In the chorus, Rodrigo passive-aggressively wishes her ex well. With sarcastic undertones she says to him, “...you look happy and healthy, not me if you ever cared to ask.”
“Good 4 U” is the anger-filled heart-break anthem we didn’t know we needed. Even if you haven’t personally experienced the type of heart-wrenching breakup Rodrigo sings about, you are almost guaranteed to enjoy it just the same as someone who has.
When asked what song Rodrigo wished she had written in an interview with Elle, she said she wished she had written “Liability'' by Lorde. In the same interview, she also gushed about her love for Billie Eilish, specifically the song “My Boy,” which she describes as “genius, clever, and fun.” Likewise, Rodrigo continually credits Taylor Swift with being the inspiration behind a lot of her music. “I love Cruel Summer, it's one of my favorite songs ever,” she tells Rolling Stone. “It’s just super electric and moving.” Later she goes on to talk about how much of “Deja Vu” was inspired by Taylor Swift's vocals in “Cruel Summer”.
Ultimately, SOUR— in all its glittery glory— is a tale about a heartbroken girl who turned her pain into bittersweet melodies. As described by Olivia Horn from Pitchfork, Rodrigo’s album SOUR “shows there’s a certain magic to be found in embracing your own mess.”
“...I’m so lucky songwriting and music exists,” Rodrigo writes in an Instagram caption. “I hope you guys enjoy the 34 minutes and 46 seconds of me spilling my guts out that is called sour. Thank you for helping me turn all my unhappy feelings into one of the best moments of my life.”
In the midst of the pain and regret and turmoil, there’s something satisfying about a story that comes full circle. It just proves there might be a subtle sweetness to be found in the sourness of heartbreak.
Listen to the full album here.
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