OLIVIA RODRIGO - You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love

Emerging onto the music scene in these turbulent 2020s, the star of Olivia Rodrigo seems increasingly hard to ignore. From former Disney star to modern pop-rock icon – a new Avril Lavigne, more than a few would say – the American singer has turned her adolescent heartbreaks and existential crises into songs that, across two acclaimed albums – “Sour” (2021) and “Guts” (2023) – have made her a symbol artist for Gen Z, placing her in a narrow musical lane that has earned her everyone's respect while she remains, relatively speaking, an artist devoted to making music “for teenagers”.

Rebellious and provocative, though not quite as much as her near-contemporary Billie Eilish; confident and at ease exposing herself on stage, but not to the extent of her famous peer Sabrina Carpenter; an advocate, like many of her generation, of a “return to guitars”, but without the commitment and conviction of English rocker Beabadoobee. Olivia's remains a peculiar case, that of a girl who wants to be alternative but also wants to talk specifically about her heartache, who wants to strum away at full tilt but never stray too far from the charts.

On her third album, whose title already says it all, the direction remains more or less the same, but with a marked tilt toward a romantic melancholy that seems to feed on itself, seeking no solutions to these endless love dilemmas, only further suffering. "You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love" finds Olivia immersing herself in her woes with pure sincerity; but also, impossible not to notice, with rather little to say on the matter compared to what far more "seasoned" peers like Taylor Swift have already done at length, and especially compared to what one would expect from a girl (and artist) who is no longer 17, as she was at her professional debut, but is now 23.

Musically, the album embraces an instrumental approach that often welcomes classically-tinged arrangements, as in the first celebrated single "Drop Dead", a Laufey-esque track that opens the record and largely sets its mood. The tracklist is indeed dotted with ballads that are perhaps meant to convey sincere romantic anxieties but often veer into banality – "Stupid Song", "Begged" and "Less" fall into this category. There are, however, a few nice surprises, like the atmospheric crescendo of "Purple" and the somewhat anachronistic indie rock of "My Way", the album's most rock-oriented track and perhaps its best, at least compared to the rest of the songs. "Expectations" is also worth mentioning, livelier and built on a breezy, bass-heavy rock sound that could work well at plenty of parties: in the song Olivia lists everything she no longer looks for in a man, describing her own "evolution" on the matter, though she herself seems unsure whether to take these changes ironically or not.

"Maggots For Brains" is the only song on the record to reveal a clear Cure influence – much has been made of this inspiration, which was supposedly meant to shape the album to a far greater extent – a style that is obviously reworked with all the necessary (2026) updates; it's also one of the few tracks to betray a fairly explicit existential unease ("I'm a zombie in my body/ I'm a sad shell of a woman") beyond mere romantic suffering. "U + Me = <3" tries to trace a similar feeling through its guitar work, but settles for an unremarkable pop/rock sound that recalls the early 2000s more than the new wave 80s territory of Robert Smith's band. Smith himself, however, does appear in person on a duet with Olivia on the track "What's Wrong With Me", a pairing that nonetheless disappoints and, beyond the striking generational bridge, doesn't offer much else of note, as the song is decidedly unmemorable. After all, the influence of the British alternative music and gothic rock legend on this third Olivia Rodrigo record has proven rather superficial, if not nonexistent.

As for the rest of the album, there's little else to say: while still firmly cast as a generational icon, Olivia Rodrigo doesn't seem to show any musical or lyrical growth (nor personal growth, for that matter), apparently preferring to keep building soundtracks for her countless romantic worlds, in which she loves to lose herself amid tears, bitter irony and pure amorous ecstasy – when love is actually there. But if this is truly all that an artist now considered among the most important and famous in the world has to say, even bearing in mind she operates within pop, one might wonder: will this really, truly go down as one of the most talked-about albums of 2026? And if so, does it deserve to?

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19/06/2026