Olivia Rodrigo is a natural at using music to give life to raw feelings and create compelling songs that speak to the experiences of millions of young people: the ups and downs of love, heartbreak, and finding oneself. As she gets ready to drop her long-awaited third studio album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love on June 12, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter is finding new, exciting, and artistic ways to make her music even more storytelling both at a very personal level and at a level understood worldwide.
It has been a long time that fans have been admiring Rodrigo’s wonderful gift of telling stories with the help of music. Her songs from launching SOUR and then GUTS have not only been dominating radio airwaves but have also been practically like pages of a personal diary accompanied by music that is in the pop-punk genre or deep emotional ballads. In recent talks, she has disclosed her openness to changing her music style focusing more on creating stories. She takes ideas from literary works, her diaries, and real-life relationships today. Her new releases, including the honest “the cure” and the heartfelt “Begged, ” are her changes through different songs that show deep desire, happiness and worry, and the complexities but also the charm of being a celebrity growing up.
A 19-year-old fan, Mia Chen living in Los Angeles, expressed how during her difficult periods of life, Rodrigo’s songs seemed like a friend. “It’s like when I hear her voice, her lyrics reflect my own story. The confusion in love and other ways that she expresses these feelings through the songs make me believe that I’m not alone, ” Mia explained. Such a real feeling of connection is what mainly differentiates Rodrigo from others and leads her to new musical projects that are beyond the typical albums.
Per some news, Rodrigo is looking into other forms of storytelling that would also be a part of her music. Actually, the experience she has had with visual albums and tour books (for example, the famous GUTS World Tour Book containing rare photos and handwritten notes) may open doors for her first-time production of works that include a memoir, an illustrated poems book, or even a multimedia project where her pieces of music get a new meaning through their transformation into the first-person narrative short stories or play parts.
In a very emotional minute-long conversation with Cosmopolitan, Rodrigo opened up about the emotional ups and downs of writing happy songs while still holding on to the “sweet fear or longing that is the hallmark of great love songs”. Also, she mentioned that the new album is, in a way, an experiment but, Then again, the vocal expressions are that of a woman who experiences the different stages of life. She even talked about “sad love songs” which are very London-inspired at the same time and they display different levels of emotional maturity. This way, the whole record tells the tale of struggle, revealing the soft tender part of the soul, and being a beacon in the darkness of times.
Rodrigo’s artistry is wonderful because She actually does not merely create polished and beautiful arts but she shows to the world the authentic side of a person. At the time when many artists are selling out, here is a person who keeps the spirit of the art alive and continuously connects with the fans with deep and meaningful content. There are murmurs that she is planning to elevate her artistic expression to the next level by involving her fans through her writings or even by their participation in the creation of the works.
Her fans would be delighted when they see her new album in June and with her Unraveled tour ongoing. They probably will get many chances to see her artistic world from different angles. Could the whole narrative book be the companion piece to the album? A series of short films inspired by the lyrics? Or an innovative hybrid format that fans can use to immerse themselves in her world? Whatever form the artist’s work takes, one thing is certain; she is ready to remain an artist who not only sings lyrics but also creates the emotional journeys of the characters of her songs.
