4.5 Pretzels – just some good, solid, fresh ass pretzels. You know the ones.
A few days ago, a youth recommended that we listen to Olivia Rodrigo’s album, Sour.
To clarify, we know this youth. We aren’t just hangin’ around young people in an effort to stay cool, or are we? Anyway, always slightly behind, I finally got around to giving it a proper listen and, you guys, it’s dope as hell.
We open with Brutal. And I need to point out that I super enjoy how she rhymes “smart” with “park”. It’s not an obvious rhyme and those are my favorite kind of rhyme. And, y’all, she’s right. It is brutal out here. Brutal is a bop and, just when you think it’s going to be an edgier album, Rodigo flips with script with, like, four love songs in a row. Which is 100% not my jam. Here’s the thing, though, they’re good. They aren’t sappy in the traditional sense and Drivers License has this fun clapping situation that reminds me a little bit of Close to Me by The Cure. Anytime you bring Cure vibes, I’m there for it. Like, showing up with my best casserole dish, we’re here for the long haul there for it. Robert Smith, love song genius. I love him. Also, many years ago, we used to have Sunday cookouts with a group of friends. We would drink entirely too much Miller Lite and, one time, we spent a good two hours listening to Close to Me and trying to clap along in all the right spots. Try it; it’s really hard.
Ah, the good times. Fuzzy, but good. Sunday cookouts were the best. Except that time one of our attendees turned out to be a murderer, but that’s a story for another day.
Anyway, back to Rodrigo. She drops far too many fucks for any of these songs to be considered sappy. And, this came as a huge surprise to me, she uses a ton of double negatives and, not only do I not hate it, I think they improve the songs. Like, I’m sure she is aware of the word “anyone” but just refuses to use it, insisting on “no one” instead. It’s a bold choice, and I commend her for it.
I first noticed it in Happier, but she does it on a few tracks. Good for her. I dig it. Happier also gives me You Oughta Know without ALL the rage vibes. Like, she’s mad, but not burn down your house mad.
In fact, I did myself a solid and listened to Reputation by T Swift, Jagged Little Pill, and then Sour consecutively. I was able to maintain a low-level dislike of men in general for the entire day, and it was rad. Like, I wasn’t mad at all of them; I just wasn’t going to take any shit from a single one of them.
I also just learned that O. Ro – that’s a nickname I just made up – was on a show called Bizaardvark. I haven’t a clue what that means, but I love it. I may need to ask a youth to explain it to me.
So, the point of all this is, take advice from a youth and give this album a listen, and also maybe vet your cookout attendees before allowing them to come to your home. Just because someone brings the name brand chips does not mean they’re a good person.
Okay, byyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Smoky
Holland + Harper Productions 