“As a girl that has grown up with each of Olivia’s albums, being completely fascinated that she was describing everything I had ever felt” - Olivia Rodrigo - Album Review - By The Fans Magazine

Words & Review: Amber Williams

Photography Credit to Owner.

As a girl that has grown up with each of Olivia’s albums, being completely fascinated that

she was describing everything I had ever felt, I was incredibly excited when her new album

‘You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love’ was announced. Olivia’s album came out on

Friday 12th of June 2026 after she announced it back in April.

There was a lot of anticipation, but we did not have to wait long at all. With Olivia releasing her first single ‘drop dead’ from the album on April 16th, close after announcing her album on April 2nd.

‘Drop Dead’ starts with a bass line and a synth playing in the background, this carries on

throughout the first verse, and as we are approaching the chorus we are met with layering of

her vocals and harmonies and a slow build up of drums that come to a halting stop, then the

rest of the song has a more upbeat feel. With the continuation of a drum beat in the background. This song is in a classic 4/4 time signature which is a classic for pop music,

making it a catchy beat. The lyrics of the song are perfectly describing a teenage experience

which Olivia always manages to do. Many of her fans always say she describes exactly how

we feel, because she is just a teenage girl. The lyrics ‘one night I was bored in bed and

stalked you on the internet’ which is a very common feeling in this generation, and this song

became a song on tik tok for people in relationships to show how they met and if they spoke

online before getting together. At the end Olivia also mentions star signs, which a lot of

people in our generation believe in. The song ends on ‘kiss me and i might drop dead’ which

once again is a very relatable lyric, explaining the feeling of having a crush on someone and

thinking that they are so perfect, and being so excited by every interaction you have with

them, kind of like a high school crush.

After drop dead, we are met with a slower song ‘stupid song’ it starts with just Olivia and

piano, and then throughout the chorus it builds up with strings and then drums and bass. It

gradually gets faster. In the bridge it is a build up of tension with just vocals and a drum beat.

Near the end of the song we hear vocals that are distant and sound like they are coming

through a stereo. The lyrics of this song are saying that she loves the person she is singing

about ‘more than any stupid song could ever say’. She also says ‘I’m sleeping in my dress

and my high heels’ which suggests she is excited and also just incase she sees him she is in

her best outfit, she also mentions dreaming about him straight after which could also

insinuate that she is doing that so in her dreams she is in a ‘romantic’ outfit. The song also

feels like the adrenaline of having a crush on someone and them noticing you, at the end of

the song she uses many metaphors to describe how she is feeling which helps us see what

feelings she is trying to convey to us as listeners, the build up of metaphors was joined with

a build up of the instrumental which circles back to me saying about the feeling of adrenaline.

Following the same vibe from ‘stupid song’, ‘honeybee’ starts off with vocals and piano, but

this song just carries on being a piano ballad. It is a slower song but it is a romance song,

which is obviously suggested by the name ‘honeybee’. The only instrumental change

throughout the song is that there is a build up of vocals and harmonies and a slight use of

strings in the background too during the build ups. The song's lyrics are saying that she

loves this person so much that it's hard to describe, and that she loves them basically no

matter what. The lyrics ‘I hope I never see what your face looks like going, a face I swear Icould spend my whole life knowing’ are repeated a lot throughout the song, which are

vulnerable and relatable, once again. It's like the songs of the album are going through all of

the stages of a relationship, the excitement of a crush and now being so in love with

someone and appreciating every moment you have with them.

Upbeat and electronic instrumentals is what we are met with when we listen to the next

song, ‘maggots for brains’ the drums are very programmed and this is a very different feel

to the past few songs on the album. The lyrics are very choppy and straight cut. The lyrics of

this song are describing how she is feeling disgusting within herself and has no motivation

when ‘her baby’ goes away, this could lead on from the obsession of a crush, that when they

are not around you, you feel useless. They have completely taken over your life, and without

them you feel like you are nothing, a feeling all teenage girls have felt at one point. Olivia

explores the vulnerability of this by the lyrics ‘and sometimes at a low point, i even wish for a

tragedy, cause i know he’d come over’ and this shows the feeling of feeling ignored or

distant from your partner, and you think that you need a ‘valid’ enough reason for them to

come over, so you brain thinks of the most dramatised insane thing it can. It is almost like

she is saying that the love she has for him is paralysing, she does not know how to function

when he is not around.

Another upbeat moment,‘u and me = <3’ explores the nice feelings of a crush again, she

says how she has said this to her previous boyfriends but she means it even more so in this

relationship. The instruments in this song are very similar to the previous song, very upbeat

but slightly less electronic and the bass and the guitar are a lot more prominent in this song.

‘purple’ starts with distant vocals and very minimal instrumentals and builds up before the

chorus, after the first chorus we have the same feel of the electronic programmed drums,

very harsh and cut throat. The vocals stay more distant throughout the entirety of the song.

In the chorus Olivia sings about how she melts with him and how he is her ‘red and her blue’

suggesting that he is making her feel love (red) and sadness (blue) so now her world is

purple. The ending of the song feels to me as though when you travel through the feelings of

when you and your partner melt so much into each other that you are no longer your own

individual people and you are as one person. This can be an incredibly isolating feeling and

very toxic, which is maybe why she says ‘melt with you till it all turns black’ as the colour

black does not have good connotations and could signal that the relationship was slowly

going bad as she wrote this song.

The first acoustic guitar feel is introduced in the album through the song ‘the cure’ it is

mostly her voice and the strumming of an acoustic guitar and a slight synth with drums

building up near the end making the song more dramatic. This song explores the feeling of

feeling like you are the problem in the relationship. That they aren’t ’the cure’ and they can’t

fix you.

Finger picking acoustic guitar, fitting the same theme as the cure,

‘begged’ is a slow finger picked song with a lot of layered vocals and harmonies. There is also a slight bass line throughout the song which adds a more full feeling to the song. Following the last song this is a contridadiction to blaming herself and more so the fact she begged to get the love she received, so was it even real. Not really blaming anyone, but also dwelling on the fact she had to beg for him to change so it didn’t feel real. ‘I’m an anchor in the ocean, you know I could never leave’ shows that the person she’s with knows no matter how they act, she i going to stay. Which I’m sure is a feeling a lot of us know too well.

‘what’s wrong with me’ is the only feature song on the album, Robert Smith from the cure

sings with Olivia. The song has a very bass and drum prominent instrumental aspect to it,

even though it isn’t a rock-y song they are the main instruments. There is also a slight aspect

of keys. The song is heavily focused on the vocals and they are very much at the forefront of

this track. The emotions explored in this song show us that she felt depressed and we see

that it in a way ‘paralysed’ her and she couldn’t get out of bed, or talk to her friends. She

seemed very isolated when writing this song, or describing the feeling of isolation. The

ending of the song is a repeat of the words ‘ I think you’re what’s wrong with me’ suggesting

either they had broken up at this point, or they hadn’t but she was very depressed in the

relationship to the point she was questioning ‘what’s wrong with her’.

‘less’ is another piano ballad, Olivia is very vulnerable in this song again exploring how she

feels. ‘If loving me means letting go and wishing me the best, then I wish I wish you loved

me less’ kind of goes against what’s in the last song but also could be going on from that as

well. It’s almost in a way suggesting she wished he cared less, so he could stick around and

they could still have each other, despite how sad the relationship is making her feel. Having

felt this feeling myself, it is a very overwhelming and horrible feeling. And sometimes wishing

this too much can manifest for this to happen.

We are brought straight back into the electronic feel with ‘expectations’. The introducing instruments include heavy programmed drums and a heavy bass with a synth playing in

the background which repeats itself through the song. There are aspects of ‘talking’ where

she talks through a verse which is a new element we haven’t heard yet. Another aspect we

haven’t yet explored is the fact of other voices talking about Olivia saying ‘she’s got real big

expectations’ they also sound distorted which adds a new vibe to the song. Expectations

could connote the feeling of after a relationship when you go out partying and you don’t

really care as much. But as she goes through the song she also explains she still has

standards and she knows she’s not going to meet her future husband, which is a good

feeling to be aware of when going through the breakup. The song could also suggest now

after her last relationship she has standards now, when she didn’t before.

You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, ends with ‘cigarette smoke’. The acoustic guitar is

back in this song, circling back to the same feel we had earlier on in the album. At the end of

the song it builds up with higher harmonies and strings in the distance, which is once again a

theme we have seen throughout the album, which is a really good element to have. As we

go through this song Olivia goes through the feeling of smelling something, and this instant

it’s cigarette smoke, and it reminds you of everything to do with them. The slowness of the

song fits with the feeling of when a smell hits you and you’re immediately met with every

feeling that person ever gave to you.

You really get taken through exactly what Olivia meant with this album. In many interviews

Olivia has explained how this started off as a love album, but as she was writing it she went

through a breakup which explains the slower more emotional songs in the second half of the

album. You really go on a journey of emotions when listening, and all I can say is thank you that this album didn’t come in 2024.

You can listen to ‘You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love’, here.