Album: SOUR
Artist: Olivia Rodrigo
Release Date: May 21, 2021
Genre: Alt-Pop
Length: 0:34:41
Label: Geffen
Producer: Daniel Nigro
The newest teenage heartbreak anthem...
Known for portraying Nini in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Olivia Rodrigo debuts her solo musical career with SOUR, quickly breaking her out of the Disney mold. The record includes one of the biggest songs of the year in "Drivers License", and the two other singles released prior to the album in "Deja Vu" and "Good 4 U"
The album starts off with the track "brutal" which showcases Rodrigo at the peak of her rock stylization. The first sounds you hear are violins, which slowly build until Rodrigo states "I want it to be, like, messy" in which the most clean mess of sound explodes out of the speakers. The melody of the guitar is consistently repeated throughout the track whether from the guitar or her lyrical flow about the struggles of being a teenager even though she was promised her youth would be fantastic and something to enjoy. The message across this track sets off the album in a perfect way as the entire album follows a similar story. "brutal" is by far the hardest song on the album in terms of intensity but it works perfectly with Rodrigo's booming performance throughout the track.
Following up the intensity from "brutal", the song "traitor" is a deep personal ballad explaining how the man she used to love instantly moved on even though she is still deep in pain. The track starts off with only piano and Rodrigo's vocals but instrumentally escalates just like her voice does throughout the entire song. The slight introduction of acoustic guitar gives the song a deeper personal feel while the slight beat of the percussion in the background brings out this distant feeling of what she was going through during the relationship.
The third song is "drivers license", which upon release broke the record for the most single-day streams on Spotify for a non-holiday song and the biggest first week for a song on Spotify and Amazon Music. The track debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and for good reason. The song starts off with car sounds that fade into the piano chords and slowly builds with percussive sounds that almost sound like muted hand claps. The track exposes Rodrigo's intense vocal range that goes from dreamlike harmonies to scream worthy anger. You can feel the pain in her voice and even though she was hurt, it serves the song very well as that pain feeds into passionate singing.
"deja vu" was the second single released for the record and the fifth track on the album. Following a similar storytelling experience as the rest of the album, this track debuted at #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 which grants Rodrigo the honor of being the only artist in history to have her first two singles in the top 10.
The third single to release was "good 4 u" which transitioned to a completely different feel from the other two singles. The multi-genre feel from Rodrigo is a shocking, yet warranted surprise that keeps SOUR entertaining throughout the entire track.
The other song that has a more rock vibe is "jealousy, jealousy" whereas "enough for you", "happier", "favorite crime" and "hope ur ok" fit the similar sound as the slower tracks. Even though you can group these songs into these categories, the instrumental patterns, melodies, vocal transitions, and overall sound are completely different from the last. For example, "enough for you" is just Rodrigo and the guitar, in which you can hear the chord transitions on the neck of the guitar. That sound gives the song an almost spotlight on stage, sitting-on-a-stool feel that makes you envision her belting this track out live in concert.
Overall this album is fantastic. A miraculous debut from Rodrigo, providing a needed anthem to the current day teens, especially after a worldwide pandemic affected them. Each song is entertaining, heartbreaking, personal but familiar. The familiarity stems from a sense that kids always feel as though they are alone, but everyone goes through similar emotions that Rodrigo sings about, which is why this album is a fantastic anthem to teenagers. And who knows, maybe even forty year old's that just had their hearts broken too...
Favorite Songs: "brutal", "drivers license", "deja vu", "good 4 u"
Least Favorite Songs: Honestly, no bad songs...
Production Quality:
Mix = 10/10 (easily able to overpower with the vocals given her range, but never does)
Innovation = 3/10
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 9.5/10
Lyricism = 10/10 (Fantastic album with personal and clever lyrics)
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 10/10
Instrumental Timbre = 10/10
Group Chemistry = 9/10 (Typical band set up that complements Rodrigo well)
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 9.5/10
Overall Rating: 9.6/10
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!