Sour- Teenage angst with glimmers of an artist that needs to discover herself to truly be great

Music Review- Olivia Roderigo- Sour- (2021)

With a few too many songs about a boy, this album would definitely not pass the Bechdel test and it most certainly represents teen girls in the most stereotypically unflattering fashion possible as it lives up to its sour name. But, Sour by Olivia Roderigo has some fantastically written and sung songs that are definitely worth a listen. She clearly has exciting potential as she grows into her artistry as it feels like the only thing holding her back is her teen angst and melodrama that you can't really blame an eighteen-year-old for.

No song is outright bad as they will all find an audience. But some are more universal past the age of fifteen. In a way, it is that perfect glossiness of the songs, which prevent any song from being truly bad, that actually keeps the album from feeling truly great as well. You end the album partially lost and wondering where the last half an hour has just gone as many of the songs bleed into one, especially as the themes are so similar across every track. At times you are left head-scratching at which song you are currently listening to. Yes, it is cohesive and there is no chaff, but at the same time, it lacks the experimentation and creative variety that makes you fall deeply in love. This may also be down to how hard she leans on her inspirations as at times you feel like you've heard this before and at other times you have definitely heard it before. It is a playlist of good Taylor Swift, Paramore, Pixie Lott, etc etc and often lacks the Roderigo core that makes you want to come back here rather than to the other artist's albums.

It is a fantastic debut with a lot of promise for the future but she needs to find herself a little before it can be truly brilliant.

Album Review: 5/10

Track By Track:

brutal- Teen melodrama at its finest. It has got all the angst of a pop-punk opening track that you've heard countless times before. The lyrics are a vague 'woe is me' being a teenager is hard level of recycled and frankly boring mediocrity. But, Roderigo spits the lines with enough velocity that the verses are energetic with a teenage frenzy that you'd be scared to walk past in the street. The big guitars over the chorus are fun and keep the manic energy flowing and exciting. Though the song comes to a haltering end with a neck-breaking change of tone that is just out of place and unnecessary. If you are a teen and never heard pop-punk before, then this will be the best thing in the world, but if you are old and tired like me, then it'll wash over you without leaving much of an impression. Also, can artists stop adding lines like "I want it to be messy" where it sounds like a behind the scenes conversation that shouldn't have made it to the final cut- it is a common trend currently that is just so grating and tired. (5)

traitor- Roderigo reminisces about a lover who moved on too quickly after they broke up and in turn, she analyses the sincerity of their relationship. It is a relatable moment that nearly everyone has been through, and the lyrics are vague enough that anyone can project their own woes onto the song. Many a folk will listen to this and bellow it from the top of their lungs as they look out the window to the grey rainy misery- it is a bit cliche. It is also way too dramatic. "You betrayed me" and "you are a traitor" lean on the cringe side of melodrama that feels like a young person after their first breakup and the world is ending. It sounds like drivers licence little sister: you can hear the potential but it misses the interesting nuances as it doesn't feel like it has been out into the real world and felt real pain yet. (5)

drivers license- The first two songs are so angsty and melodramatic that at times they lean on cringy for anyone over the age of fifteen to listen to seriously, but drivers licence revises all of that and makes a beautiful simple ballad that is clearly about teen love but is able to bring even a grown man to tears. Roderigo's voice cracks and vocal flare really do a lot of the heavy lifting to sell the song above a mediocre heartbreak anthem. She really sounds in pain, and it makes it even more satisfying to sing along to and remember the arsehole that broke your heart first. The first two minutes twenty build and build with glorious drama and tension in such a brilliant fashion that it is depressing that the lukewarm bridge is what it was building to. The autotuned voice effects are just a disappointing centrepiece when the rest of the song is so beautiful and simple. But that doesn't prevent it being a great song with enough quotable lyrics to cover every Instagram caption. (8)

1 step forward, 3 steps back- You will spend the first half wondering where you know the instrumental from until you realise it's a Taylor Swift deep cut; it makes the track feel peculiarly similar yet uncannily different which is probably the desired effect when talking about a confusing relationship where you don't know where you stand. It is an incredibly simple pop song with a quaint chorus over vague and relatable lyrics that make the song just feel a bit empty. The birds chirping in the background add to this feeling that Roderigo is just coming up with the lyrics as she is walking down the street. It creates this very down to earth and girl next door feel, but it is all a bit too blase for me: I want bigger, bolder, like an artist is bleeding their heart out, not your everyday conversation. It is cute but unremarkable. (5)

deja vu- Listening to this song for the first time is a rollercoaster as Roderigo's fantastic storytelling keeps you on tenterhooks throughout the track as she adds more layers of detail and twists that surprise you at every turn. The way she introduces a line that she'll go back to later on in the track with an added layer of detail that changes the meaning is the crafty level of deceit that she experienced with her ex: she is reminiscing over old memories and finding different meaning now she has moved on. It is a dual-level lyricism that brings the listener along the journey as well as showing them how it felt; this is not a basic break-up pop song even if it may seem that way if you aren't listening properly. It is catchy as hell and Roderigo sings her heart out, as well as having an interesting and varied production that drags you up and down like a rag doll of emotions. (9)

good 4 u- Back to the pop-punk sound of the first track, and more or less (more more than less) the same lyrical content of the second track, you can't help but feel this is a retread of the same things you've heard already on this album. It is a slice of fun as Roderigo sounds like she is smirking along to her own sarcasm which is infectious. It certainly feels self-aware enough to know that it is going to get sung into a million hair brushes across the country as it has enough spunk to be a good hype song while getting ready for a night out. Roderigo clearly has the potential to be an excellent vocalist as at multiple points in this track she does an interesting voice run that you wish you'd hear more of (especially on the bridge)- she is severely underutilised so far on the album. With enough sass to be on a Lizzo song, whereas a vocal delivery like Taylor Swift, and the obvious Paramore comparisons, this is every white girl's wet dream. (7)

enough for you- Rodrigo is actually a talented little songwriter as she is really good at writing narrative songs that are very different at the end than at the start- it definitely keeps you excited to see how each song will develop. This is a simple enough premise, Roderigo feels like she put more effort into the relationship to be discarded so emotionlessly. But it is the way she begins by exploring her own faults and 'obsessive' nature, to then twist it on its head and recognise that she was not the only one at fault and her intentions were always pure whereas his was callous and cold. Like the best tracks on the album, this style is where she is at her best where she lets her raw voice and interesting lyrics shine. It is simple, but sometimes simple is enough for me. (8)

happier- What a peculiar little song. With a production that feels like it wants to be bigger and grander than it ends up being, as well as sounding eerily like a great Pixie Lott song. But it seems to be fighting against itself as when the chorus hits it just stops trying and falls dead and flat like a dying animal. The song is beautiful at parts like a great ballad, but at the same time, it really doesn't want to be a ballad. You could argue that this awkward battle in itself is a metaphor for the meaning of the song where you logically want someone to be happy but can't fight your irrational emotions that can't help but want them to miss you. However, that might be giving the track a little bit too much respect as ultimately it just sounds off-kilter and wrapped in wasted potential if they just went full throttle. The sentiment is cute but by the end of the track, the word happier doesn't actually sound like a word anymore. (6)

jealousy, jealousy- A minorly dull social media hate train that doesn't really do or say anything that you probably couldn't have guessed from knowing the song is about Instagram. It is really just uneventful. Nearly every flavour of fun is done somewhere else on the album more interestingly. And at times the production feels like a child slamming on the piano with no intent or creative vision- it feels like something you could create on garage band in year nine. There is really not much else to say. (4)

favourite crime- At this point in the album, it feels like you've heard everything that Roderigo has to offer. This track isn't bold or interesting like previous tracks that handle exactly the same themes. It is highly unlikely that anyone would say this was their favourite crime, but it will ultimately not upset anyone either. Roderigo might argue that this is the turning point, the reconciliation moment, of all the pain she suffered on the previous tracks and her moving on, but she seemingly argued that for about four different songs up to this point that she has been on a rollercoaster of recovering and breaking that I'm kind of hoping she commits to a direction and at this point, I don't care which one she chooses. (4)

hope ur ok- Well thematically this track does not feel part of the same album, for one it loses all the sourness that has a tight grip on every other track. It also feels incredibly hollow and in ways rather patronising. I'm sure it is meant to feel inspirational that Olivia Roderigo is proud of me that I got through shit in my life, but it is the kind of bland basic derivative stuff that just makes you want to say "you don't know me so you have no right to feel proud for anything I've done". This sentiment is continued when you realise she doesn't even know the people she calls her friends on this track, so it feels all a bit manipulative that she is stealing other people's stories and inserting herself into them as she either has no interesting trauma for her to monetise herself or she wants to feel responsible for other people's fights. Yeah, these lyrics rub me up the wrong way. It is sonically quaint and a nice closing song, but the more I think about it the more wrong it feels. (3)