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Music World > Lists > Every Olivia Rodrigo Song, Ranked
Lists

Every Olivia Rodrigo Song, Ranked

Written by: News Room Last updated: June 25, 2026
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Three albums, all classics. Let’s celebrate a budding rock & roll legend

Olivia Rodrigo has spent her career making pop history, dropping three of this century’s best albums. She made her mark with her 2021 instant-classic debut Sour, and the even-better 2023 follow-up Guts. But with her brilliant new album, You Seem Pretty Sad For a Girl So In Love, she proves what everybody already knew: Olivia’s an artist with her own voice, not just here to stay, but already hitting the level of the all-time greats. She’s a master of every move whether she’s serving pop-punk bangers or piano-ballad weepers. And she’s already sitting on top of a classic songbook at 23.

So let’s celebrate the music Olivia Rodrigo has made so far: a deep dive into every single song in her amazing catalog. Obviously, this list doesn’t cover High School Musical—that would be a whole other list. (“All I Want” is arguably a special case.) Also, no Bizaardvark, with all due respect to “Blobfish” and “Comeback Song.” It’s got the songs from all three of her albums, with her soundtrack tunes, bonus tracks, cover versions (but only the ones she’s officially released), loosies, and B-sides. 

Remember, every fan’s list would be different — that’s the point. The competition for the top is fierce, but this whole list is stacked with bangers from top to bottom. So raise a glass to Olivia, crank up the music, sense the undertones, and sing along loud. Hey, it really IS brutal out here.

  • ‘Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl’

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 05: Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage during the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
    Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

    A sensitive account of the social anxiety that can get left over from the isolation of her home-schooling days—not to mention a clever salute to Bob Dylan, one of her songwriting idols, who inspired her with “Ballad of a Thin Man.” The glitch is the unfortunate chorus “social suicide,” a klutzy line that doesn’t work as a hook or a joke at all, and gets in the way of the song living up to the title’s promise. As for Olivia singing “every guy I like is gay”? Best-case scenario.

    Best line: “I’m on the outside of the greatest inside joke.”

  • ‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back’

    LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 18: Olivia Rodrigo performs on the Daytime Stage at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival at AREA15 on September 18, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 18: Olivia Rodrigo performs on the Daytime Stage at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival at AREA15 on September 18, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
    Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

    Olivia interpolates the 2017 Taylor Swift classic “New Year’s Day,” from Reputation. A haunting and powerful chronicle of a bad romance. She realizes it’s time for her to step off this emotional roller coaster, while she’s got the chance. But it’s difficult, because “the roller coaster’s all I’ve ever had.” The day after she wrote this song, the dude dumped her. Good riddance.

    Best line: “Like, am I pretty? Am I fun, boy? I hate that I give you power over that kinda stuff.”

  • ‘Friday I’m In Love’ (with Robert Smith)

    GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: Olivia Rodrigo performs with Robert Smith (R) onstage during day five of the Glastonbury Festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 29, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. Established by Michael Eavis in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into the UK's largest music festival, drawing over 200,000 fans to enjoy performances across more than 100 stages. In 2026, the festival will take a fallow year, a planned pause to allow the Worthy Farm site time to rest and recover. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Olivia Rodrigo)GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: Olivia Rodrigo performs with Robert Smith (R) onstage during day five of the Glastonbury Festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 29, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. Established by Michael Eavis in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into the UK's largest music festival, drawing over 200,000 fans to enjoy performances across more than 100 stages. In 2026, the festival will take a fallow year, a planned pause to allow the Worthy Farm site time to rest and recover. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Olivia Rodrigo)
    Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

    O-Rod was the hit of last summer’s Glastonbury Festival, but she really sealed the deal when she brought out a local hero. “He’s probably the best songwriter to come out of England!” she announced, as The Cure’s Robert Smith ambled onstage. The whole world was stunned by the sight of the goth elder grinning from ear to ear—not something you see every day—as he sang a couple of Cure classics with her, including the 1992 hit “Friday I’m In Love.” They preserved their duet on a stand-alone vinyl single as well as her essential Live at Glastonbury album. In the liner notes, Liv called her set “the most exhilarating 90 minutes of my life.” 

    Best line: “Always take a big bite/It’s such a gorgeous sight/To see you eat in the middle of the night.”

  • ‘Expectations’

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Natasha Moustache/Getty Images

    Near the end of You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, she tries to move on, cruising the bars of Silverlake looking for her next Mr. Bad Idea Right? She vows, “Past mistakes are just new information.” (Speaking of mistakes: pop stars complaining about people with “fake jobs”… in 2026? In a chorus? A sign of how fast she was rushing to crank out those final songs.) The Eighties production has a camp touch with the robot-boy vocal choir, in the style of Madonna’s “Material Girl” or Lene Lovich’s “New Toy.” 

    Best line: “So I hit the new year like a single girl at a Vegas bar/Rocking my minidress with a vodka cran and an open heart.”

  • ‘River’

    on the second day of the Governors Ball Music Festival in Queens, New York on June 7th, 2025.on the second day of the Governors Ball Music Festival in Queens, New York on June 7th, 2025.
    Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

    An early sign of Olivia’s flair for cover versions, from one of the funniest-titled Christmas albums ever: High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special: The Soundtrack. Liv gives a taste of things to come by singing Joni Mitchell’s Blue classic about a bummed-out December, feeling weak in the knees. It’s got a whole new resonance now after You Seem Pretty Sad, since “River” sounds like the template for her new break-up songs. (Yes, I said in the intro that HSM songs don’t count, but I guess this is cheating, and I’m still a traitor.)

    Best line: “I’m selfish and I’m sad.”

  • ‘The Book of Love’

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images

    A charity song for the 2026 War Child benefit compilation Help (2). Olivia sings the modern-day wedding standard from the Magnetic Fields’ master tunesmith Stephen Merritt, made famous by Peter Gabriel. She called it “one of my fav songs ever.”

    Best line: “The book of love is long and boring/No one can lift the damn thing.”

  • ‘Say It Ain’t So’ (with Weezer)

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)
    Image Credit: Erika Goldring/WireImage

    When Olivia headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago, she brought out a surprise guest: her childhood heroes Weezer, the very first band she saw in concert as a little girl. (She was born in between “Dope Nose” and “Beverly Hills.”) They played two Blue Album bangers that she released as a vinyl 7-inch, turning “Say It Ain’t So” into a cross-generational pop-punk full-circle moment.

    Best line: “Like father, stepfather, this son is drowning in the flood.”

  • ‘Buddy Holly’ (with Weezer)

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joshua Applegate/WireImage)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joshua Applegate/WireImage)
    Image Credit: Joshua Applegate/WireImage

    But the next song was even better, as she sang, “I look just like Buddy Holly and you’re Mary Tyler Moore!” (One of her power moves, when it comes to cover versions: she never changes the pronouns or gender roles. Always the way to do it.) Olivia singing “you need a guardian” to Rivers Cuomo—was she wrong? A reminder that she makes such a brilliant pop star because she’s a brilliant pop fan, first and foremost. 

    Best line: “What’s with these homies dissing my girl?”

  • ‘All I Want’

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic)
    Image Credit: Josh Brasted/FilmMagic

    Technically a High School Musical song, but it makes the cut since (1) she wrote it by herself and (2) she still occasionally does it live, which makes it canon. What could be a realer 16-year-old lyric than “I miss the days when I was young and naive”?

    Best line: “All I have is myself at the end of the day/And all I want is for that to be okay.”

  • ‘Stick Season’

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 05: Noah Kahan and 
Olivia Rodrigo perform onstage during the Olivia Rodrigo Sold-Out GUTS World Tour at Madison Square Garden on April 05, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 05: Noah Kahan and 
Olivia Rodrigo perform onstage during the Olivia Rodrigo Sold-Out GUTS World Tour at Madison Square Garden on April 05, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)
    Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

    A limited-edition single for Record Store Day — Olivia and Noah Kahan interpret each other’s tunes, recorded in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. She sings “Stick Season,” while Noah sings “Lacy” on the flip side — beautifully proving they’re mutual fans who’ve listened close to each other’s voices. They also sang this together onstage at her Madison Square Garden show; she’s called it one of her favorite concert moments.

    Best line: “Now I’m terrified of weather ‘cause I see you when it rains.”

  • ‘Cigarette Smoke’

    on the second day of the Governors Ball Music Festival in Queens, New York on June 7th, 2025.on the second day of the Governors Ball Music Festival in Queens, New York on June 7th, 2025.
    Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

    The morose finale of You Seem Pretty Sad — she resists the temptation to give a tidy ending to the story, or to wrap it up with a bow, instead choosing to let it all hang out with a stream of chaotic, messy, vague, hit-or-miss images, dashed out in haste while the break-up pain is still fresh. (Including an out-of-nowhere “her” that probably wouldn’t have survived a second draft.) The beautifully muted arrangement covers up the glitches, making it work as a mood piece. 

    Best line: “It’s a real quiet house with the shower left on/Five beers in the fridge and the second car’s gone.”

  • ‘Burning Down the House’ (with David Byrne)

    Olivia Rodrigo Brings Out David Byrne at Gov BallOlivia Rodrigo Brings Out David Byrne at Gov Ball
    Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

    All through her awesome summer-2025 tour, Olivia kept inviting her heroes up onstage, but she outdid herself at New York’s Governors Ball. Qu’est-ce sue c’est? David Byrne, who joined her for a jubilant duet on the Talking Heads’ 1983 space-funk classic “Burning Down the House.” She released it as a vinyl single, along with Byrne’s Fear of Music-style version of “Drivers License.” (So…the rest of the Sour covers project? Is that still even happening? David would probably cover the whole album if she asked.) OliviByrne were definitely making flippy-floppy, trading their best moves in a long, touching, and hilarious dance-off. Note: Byrne wasn’t the only New York CBGB punk legend she honored at Gov Ball. Her encore ensemble was a tribute to Blondie’s Debbie Harry, who wore the same outfit for her famous 1976 Punk magazine photo session.

    Best line: “Strange, but not a stranger.”

  • ‘Hope Ur Ok’

    LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 11: Olivia Rodrigo performs during The BRIT Awards 2021 at The O2 Arena on May 11, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by JMEnternational/JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images)LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 11: Olivia Rodrigo performs during The BRIT Awards 2021 at The O2 Arena on May 11, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by JMEnternational/JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images

    Olivia taps into the same empathetic spirit of Fiona Apple’s “Shameika” on Fetch The Bolt Cutters, or Taylor Swift’s “Seven” on Folklore — living with the complex memory of a childhood friend. She sings about queer kids getting rejected by their families, and tells them long-distance, “I hope you know how proud I am that you were created/With the courage to unlearn all of their hatred.” Believe it or not, not so long ago (like, oh, let’s say the entire freaking 20th century), hearing words like this from a teen pop star would have been totally unthinkable. 

    Best line: “Address the letters to the holes in my butterfly wings.”

  • ‘Traitor’

    'Traitor' screen shot'Traitor' screen shot

    “It took you two weeks to go and date her/Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor.” Your honor, the prosecution rests. 

    Best line: “While she’s sleeping in the bed we made/Don’t you dare forget about the way you betrayed me.”

  • ‘Just Like Heaven’ (with Robert Smith)

    Olivia Rodrigo performs with Robert Smith of The CureOlivia Rodrigo performs with Robert Smith of The Cure
    Image Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage

    Do you get deja vu? The best of her live-cover singles, with Robert Smith joining her for one of the Eighties’ saddest songs — while she wore a T-shirt saying, “You Know All The Words to ‘Just Like Heaven.’” (It would take nearly a year for the world to figure out that reference.) She’s a lifelong Cure superfan — who can forget the footage of teen Liv in the car belting “Boys Don’t Cry”? After they sang this duet, she posted a photo of them backstage downing shots — that’s so American of her. Robert Smith, we’ll meet again — higher up on this list.

    Best line: “Spinning on that dizzy edge/Kissed her face and kissed her head.”

  • ‘My Way’

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 08: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Peacock Theater on November 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage)LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 08: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Peacock Theater on November 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage)
    Image Credit: Amy Sussman/WireImage

    “Here’s the part where the girl gets pissed,” indeed. Olivia goes off on a hilarious rant against a suspected rival, the only time on Pretty Sad she shows her OliviAggro fangs, and it’s the closest she comes to a pop-punk snarler, despite the excellent synth-pop buzz. “My Way” is deliciously petty, self-mocking, irresponsible, and misogynistic, in the “Misery Business”/“Better Than Revenge” tradition. But given how much Olivia worships Blondie, her role model sounds like it must be Debbie Harry’s sneer in “Rip Her To Shreds.” Fun fact: the most famous cover version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is the punk makeover from the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious. In the biopic Pistol, it’s sung by the actor playing Sid: Louis Partridge.

    Best line: “Maybe I’m a petty bitch, but you made me resort to this! That’s it! I win!”

  • ‘Jealousy Jealousy’

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 04: Olivia Rodrigo attends Variety's Hitmakers Brunch presented by Peacock | Girls5eva on December 04, 2021 in Downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Variety)LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 04: Olivia Rodrigo attends Variety's Hitmakers Brunch presented by Peacock | Girls5eva on December 04, 2021 in Downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Variety)
    Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Variety

    Olivia sings about the kind of compare-and-despair self-loathing that results from excessive phone addiction. She sings about it with all her typical sympathy and wit, especially when she’s scrolling through “cool vintage clothes and vacation photos.” Plus one of her first killer bridges. The studio version is stiff, but “Jealousy, Jealousy” really took off as one of her live hell-raisers, with a punked-out Clash-style attack, as she chants, “Co-comparison is killing me slowly.”

    Best line: “A pretty face, a pretty boyfriend too/I wanna be you so bad and I don’t even know you.”

  • ‘Less’

    ROSKILDE, DENMARK - JULY 04:  Olivia Rodrigo performs at Roskilde festival at Dyrskuepladsen on June 30, 2025 in Roskilde, Denmark.  (Photo by Didier Messens/Redferns)ROSKILDE, DENMARK - JULY 04:  Olivia Rodrigo performs at Roskilde festival at Dyrskuepladsen on June 30, 2025 in Roskilde, Denmark.  (Photo by Didier Messens/Redferns)
    Image Credit: Didier Messens/Redferns/Getty Images

    A torchy change-of-pace piano weeper in cocktail mode, mourning the burnout of a relationship, including a failed getaway to Big Sur. Who among us HASN’T broken down in a crying fit on the curb at LAX? 

    Best line: “Maybe I’m a stubborn overthinker, but I’ve been thinking over this a lot.”

  • ‘Making the Bed’

    BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 12: Olivia Rodrigo attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Cindy Ord/VF23/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 12: Olivia Rodrigo attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Cindy Ord/VF23/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
    Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

    A moving confession about growing up, maybe even getting famous, from the POV of a hyper-responsible only child and Disney starlet. She got what she wanted, but she doesn’t like who she’s turning into, always pretending she’s older than she is. “Getting drunk at a club with my fair-weather friends,” she sighs. “Push away all the people who know me the best/But it’s me who’s been making the bed.” 

    Best line: “I tell someone I love them, just as a distraction/And they tell me that they love me like I’m some tourist attraction.”

  • ‘Never Do’

    CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 01: Olivia Rodrigo performs during 2025 Lollapalooza Festival at Grant Park on August 01, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)
    Image Credit: Erika Goldring/WireImage

    A skeletal demo of a song written after her third album was turned in, released as vinyl-collector bait on the flip side of “The Cure,” but a very different story about a generic cad. The guy in “The Cure” tries hard to suck out her toxins, but this guy isn’t trying at all, leaving her to wonder, “Naked in your bed/Baby, where have you been?” 

    Best line: “We both do our best/It’s a shame that my best is much more.”

  • ‘The Grudge’

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 10: Olivia Rodrigo visits the SiriusXM studios in Los Angeles on July 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM)LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 10: Olivia Rodrigo visits the SiriusXM studios in Los Angeles on July 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
    Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

    She talks tough to an ex — but only after their break-up, as she rehashes their old arguments in front of her bedroom mirror. “I was just driving to the studio,” Olivia once said. “And I was listening to the Smiths and there’s this lyric [in ‘I Know It’s Over’] where he says, ‘It takes courage to be kind.’ I was really upset at the time and I was like, ‘What if I don’t what to have courage and what if I don’t want to be kind?’” She wrote the lyrics at the next stoplight: “It takes strength to forgive, but I don’t feel strong.”

    Best line: “Hurt people hurt people/We both drew blood, but man, those cuts were never equal.”

  • ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard/Getty Images

    Her great soundtrack theme for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. It fits the pastoral acoustic folk-horror mode of the franchise — definitely cut from the same cloth as Taylor Swift’s “Safe and Sound” with the Civil Wars. She sings from the perspective of the heroine Lucy Gray, but she puts her own stamp on it. It’s yet another Olivia song about an older man who planned on picking her up and tossing her away, only to find that she still haunts him long after she escapes.

    Best line: “I bet you figured I’d pass like winter/Be something easy to forget.”

  • ‘Pretty Isn’t Pretty’

    TODAY -- Pictured: Olivia Rodrigo on Friday, September 8, 2023 -- (Photo by: Kara Birnbaum/NBC via Getty Images)TODAY -- Pictured: Olivia Rodrigo on Friday, September 8, 2023 -- (Photo by: Kara Birnbaum/NBC via Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Kara Birnbaum/NBC/Getty Images

    A powerfully candid tale of negative body image and torturously low self-esteem. It’s almost a foretaste of “The Cure,” dissecting the destructive thoughts that can prey on an insecure young mind, as she laments, “I bought all the clothes that they told me to buy/I chased some ideal my whole fucking life.” The heavily flanged guitar is very 1985, a clever sign of producer Dan Nigro’s ever-fruitful Eighties inspiration.

    Best line: “It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed.”

  • ‘Scared of My Guitar’

    BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

    She can lie to everybody else about her feelings — even the boy in her arms, who she doesn’t really love. But this girl can’t fool her guitar, because it knows all her secrets and gives her the truth. (“You can tell your guitar things that you can’t tell people,” as Paul McCartney once told Rolling Stone. “And it will answer you with things people can’t tell you.”) It’s a muted acoustic ballad with some Ladies of the Canyon swoops in her vocal. 

    Best line: “I’m so scared of my guitar/Because it cuts right to the heart/It knows me too well, so I got no excuse/I can’t lie to it the same way that I lie to you.”

  • ‘Teenage Dream’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RSOlivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RS
    Image Credit: Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone

    The massive finale of Guts, a piano confession building to the climactic lighters-up chorus. Olivia blows out the candles as she turns 20, singing, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t always be your teenage dream.” (Three years after she sang “I’m so sick of 17/Where’s my fucking teenage dream?”) But she’s got tough questions for the future, asking, “When am I gonna stop being wise beyond my years? And just start being wise? When am I gonna stop being a pretty young thing to guys?” 

    Best line: “When does wide-eyed affection and all good intentions start to not be enough?”

  • ‘Purple’

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 23: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert at Park Avenue Armory on October 23, 2025 in New York City.  (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for American Express)NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 23: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert at Park Avenue Armory on October 23, 2025 in New York City.  (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for American Express)
    Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

    “Purple” starts out as a sweet love buzz, with a new wave benediction from Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” the 1982 banger that Olivia says she’s already picked as her wedding song. But she rewrote it with a post-break-up outro, where this modern English romance gets bogged down in her self-doubts and anxieties. (It’ll be so interesting to compare when we get to hear the original demo version.) The outro goes acoustic, so it segues just perfectly into the opening strums of “The Cure” — a moment that really shows the brilliance of the Rodrigo/Nigro team as expert album-crafters.

    Best line: “I melt with you, your red and my blue/Now I see the world in purple.”

  • ‘Enough For You’

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center on September 12, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center on September 12, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)
    Image Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images

    A heart-tugging tale of a young girl realizing her devotion is totally one-sided, and that her boyfriend is a drag. No matter how many times you hear “Enough For You,” her voice always touches your soul when she rages, “Stupid, emotional, obsessive little me.” Preach, Olivia: “I tried so hard to be everything you like/Just for you to say you’re not the compliment type.” That is technically the “already a middle-aged asshole for life” type. 

    Best line: “Don’t tell me you’re sorry, boy/Feel sorry for yourself/Because someday I’ll be everything to somebody else.”

  • ‘Stranger’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard/Getty Images

    An excellent Guts (Spilled) break-up tale, and like some of the others, it goes for a hippie-folkie vibe of incense and patchouli, as opposed to the original album’s electric-youth mall-punk. “Stranger” is a wonderfully smug kiss-off to an ex, telling him, “You’re just a stranger I know everything about.” Bonus points for the Jewel-like breakfast scene where she sips her morning coffee and asks herself, “How did that happen?… For just some guy? Like, you’re just some guy!” 

    Best line: “You are the best thing that I’ll ever keep so far out of my life.”

  • ‘Logical’

    Olivia Rodrigo at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3rd, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Olivia Rodrigo at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3rd, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
    Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety

    Can we talk about how insanely underrated “Logical” is? It’s the most powerfully raw ballad on Guts. Like so many of her Guts songs, it’s a story about a young woman getting twisted, molded, and humiliated by a “master manipulator” of an older man. Rodrigo’s voice shakes when she wails, “Said I was too young, I was too soft/Can’t take a joke, can’t get you off.” 

    Best line: “Loving you is loving every argument you held over my head/You brought up the girls you could have instead.”

  • ‘Begged’

    BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 8: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage during an exclusive Billions Club Live show to celebrate the partnership between Spotify and FC Barcelona before El Clásico on May 8, 2026 in Barcelona, ​​Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images for Spotify)BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 8: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage during an exclusive Billions Club Live show to celebrate the partnership between Spotify and FC Barcelona before El Clásico on May 8, 2026 in Barcelona, ​​Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images for Spotify)
    Image Credit: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

    The emotion is all in the hushed calm of her voice, with a beautifully intricate vocal arrangement. Sonically and melodically, an update of “Favorite Crime” from her debut, but with more adult pain. The acoustic guitar lifts it high, with Nigro going for the Aaron Dessner touch. 

    Best line: “What a shame you’re not here to witness my devotion/And my endless well of needs.”

  • ‘Love Is Embarrassing’

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 08: Olivia Rodrigo performs on NBC's "Today" at Rockefeller Plaza on September 08, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 08: Olivia Rodrigo performs on NBC's "Today" at Rockefeller Plaza on September 08, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Rob Kim/Getty Images

    Olivia fesses up to the chaotic romantic melodramas she plays out in the privacy of her mind, over “some second-string loser who’s not worth mentioning.” She rips him apart, but aims all her wittiest barbs at herself, admitting, “I’m planning out my wedding with some guy I’m never marrying.” “Love Is Embarrassing” just keeps sounding better and better over time, as she keeps refining it onstage. One of Dan Nigro’s most impeccable Eighties new wave productions, in the guitar/synth meld of the Cars or the Motels or Missing Persons, complete with a perfect Dale Bozzio hiccup in her voice. 

    Best line: “You found a new version of me/And I damn near started World War III.”

  • ‘Girl I’ve Always Been’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage at American Express Platinum Card x Olivia Rodrigo Concert on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard/Getty Images

    She goes for coffeehouse Joni vibes here, strumming and chirping over the bongos as she breaks the heart of yet another Look At You, Cool Guy who thought he had this sweet young thing under his thumb. She kicks around some brilliant taunts, from “I can’t say I’m a perfect ten” to “I’m a candle in the wind” to “I’ll turn you out, I’ll turn you in.” But you have to love her heel turn, as her voice drips with sadistic malice.

    Best line: “I have captors I call friends/I got panic rooms inside my head/And I get down with crooked men/But I am the girl I’ve always been.”

  • ‘Maggots For Brains’

    BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 8: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage during an exclusive Billions Club Live show to celebrate the partnership between Spotify and FC Barcelona before El Clásico on May 8, 2026 in Barcelona, ​​Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images for Spotify)BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 8: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage during an exclusive Billions Club Live show to celebrate the partnership between Spotify and FC Barcelona before El Clásico on May 8, 2026 in Barcelona, ​​Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images for Spotify)
    Image Credit: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

    Even an album full of obsessive Cure worship, “Maggots for Brains” really goes off the deep end. This lands right in the zone between the Cure album that really sounds like New Order (The Head on the Door) and the New Order album that really sounds like the Cure (Brotherhood), and you know what? Nothing wrong with that zone. This is electro obsession at its best, which fits a song about the loneliness of missing someone in a long-distance relationship, feeling like a zombie in your body.

    Best line: “I went to a party but only on principle.”

  • ‘Lacy’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RSOlivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RS
    Image Credit: Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone

    One of the most quizzical and enigmatic tunes on Guts, a vulnerable tale about getting obsessed with a powerful woman, either a fantasy figure or a real-life crush. (Or both.) Olivia can’t get “Smart Sexy Lacy” out of her head, a “dazzling starlet/Bardot reincarnate.” She’s desperate for Lacy’s approval, yet she ends up feeling poisoned, lamenting, “It’s like you’re made of angel dust.” 

    Best line: “I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you/I despise my rotten mind, and how much it worships you.”

  • ‘Honeybee’

    BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

    An exquisitely quiet love song, as a girl and a boy hop a fence in the park to take a night-time stroll, in their blissful “sticky-sweet tangerine” solitude. “Honeybee” totally captures that intimate mood. When she sings, “Pick me up, walk me home,” the sound is so hushed and unhurried; these lovers have all the time in the world. 

    Best line: “I hope I never see what your face looks like going/A face I swear I could spend my whole life knowing.”

  • ‘Get Him Back!’

    Get Him Back! screen shotGet Him Back! screen shot
    Image Credit: youtube

    A rocked-out guitar tantrum, with some of Olivia’s shadiest shade: “He had an ego and a temper and a wandering eye / He said he’s 6-foot-2 and I’m like, dude, nice try.” When she sings, “I wanna meet his mom, just to tell her her son sucks,” that is some zoomer-Joni level shit. (On Blue, Joni Mitchell has the same conversation with Leonard Cohen’s mom, though not in those exact words.) Famous last words “I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I can fix him?”

    Best line: “I wanna key his car, I wanna make him lunch.”

  • ‘Favorite Crime’

    JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!  "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Tuesday, October 26 included Jeremy Renner (The Mayor of Kingstown) and Olivia Rodrigo (Sour). (Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images)
OLIVIA RODRIGOJIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!  "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EST and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Tuesday, October 26 included Jeremy Renner (The Mayor of Kingstown) and Olivia Rodrigo (Sour). (Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images)
OLIVIA RODRIGO
    Image Credit: Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Image

    A gorgeous guitar ballad in Nineties indie-rock mode, with a chorus that cleverly tweaks Pavement’s “Here” for an Olivia tune that’s truly slanted and enchanted. “Favorite Crime” explores one of her favorite lyrical themes: how tough it can be to stop blaming yourself for other people being mean to you.

    Best line: “Doe-eyed as you buried me/One heart broke, four hands bloody.”

  • ‘What’s Wrong With Me’ (with Robert Smith)

    GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Robert Smith performs with Olivia Rodrigo during day five of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 29, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. Established by Michael Eavis in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into the UK's largest music festival, drawing over 200,000 fans to enjoy performances across more than 100 stages. In 2026, the festival will take a fallow year, a planned pause to allow the Worthy Farm site time to rest and recover. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Robert Smith performs with Olivia Rodrigo during day five of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 29, 2025 in Glastonbury, England. Established by Michael Eavis in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into the UK's largest music festival, drawing over 200,000 fans to enjoy performances across more than 100 stages. In 2026, the festival will take a fallow year, a planned pause to allow the Worthy Farm site time to rest and recover. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
    Image Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage

    You seem pretty sad for a goth so in love. Like so many sad kids over the decades, Olivia takes her most private fears and anxieties to The Cure guru Robert Smith — this dream duet is basically the conversation so many of us have had with Robert in our angsty teenage minds, so kudos to Olivia for turning her baby-bat fantasy into this just-like-heaven song. (Love the way she begins “staring at the ceeeeei-ling,” a clever nod to Staring at the Sea.) The moody synth-pop malaise comes from The Top or Japanese Whispers; so does the puckish humor. He really did show her, show her, show her how to do that trick.

    Best line: “I should talk to a friend, but I can’t get out of bed.”

  • ‘Bad Idea Right?’

    'Bad Idea Right?' screen shot'Bad Idea Right?' screen shot

    “I’m sensing some undertones” — now there’s a brilliant way to kick off a love story. Olivia flaunts her wit in a devilishly catchy Eighties synth-pop bop about romantic obsession, the kind that you try to talk yourself out of in vain, even if it’s the biggest lie you ever said. 

    Best line: “I’m sure I’ve seen much hotter men / But I really can’t remember when.”

  • ‘Stupid Song’

    'Stupid Song''Stupid Song'
    Image Credit: Youtube

    A New York valentine where her heart melts like wax in the sun, with a soaring Pulp-style chorus and a Lover-worthy bridge, setting off sparks in the dark. “I’m a car speeding down the boulevard without a brake” is such a memorable image — one of the surprisingly rare times in her songs that Ms. I Drive Alone Down Your Street actually uses her drivers license. 

    Best line: “Every night like the one before/I dream of you from like 1 to 4.”

  • ‘Good 4 U’

    'Good 4 U' screengrab'Good 4 U' screengrab

    “Good 4 U” was her third hit, after the huge surprise impact of “Drivers License” and “Deja Vu.” So people tried to prepare themselves for this one. But “Good 4 U” was the hit that really established Olivia as the all-purpose modern pop star, updating classic grunge feminist pop-punk for a whole new era. She goes for Nineties Alanis/Courtney/Veruca Salt realness, savaging a “damn sociopath” for the fatal mistake of pissing her off. After “Good 4 U,” nobody would ever underestimate her again.

    Best line: “It’s like we never even happened? Baby, what the fuck is up with that?”

  • ‘So American’

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 05: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the Olivia Rodrigo Sold-Out GUTS World Tour at Madison Square Garden on April 05, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 05: Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the Olivia Rodrigo Sold-Out GUTS World Tour at Madison Square Garden on April 05, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)
    Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

    A glorious nugget of Eighties new wave, the kind that Southern California girls appreciate like nobody else. “So American” rocks in the mode of the Go-Gos or Blondie or Devo. It evokes the Devo banger “Come Back Jonee” — a song that Debbie Harry covered on SNL in 1980. (And of course, Debbie Harry just returned to SNL in May to introduce Olivia. This girl always knows her history.) “So American” celebrates the eternal mutual crush between London boys and the Cali girls who adore them, as she sighs, “Oh God, it’s just not fair of him to make me feel this much!” She played it last summer at Glastonbury. “I love English music,” she told the crowd. “And as luck would have it, I also love English boys.” 

    Best line: “Feet on the dashboard/He’s like a poem I wish I wrote.”

  • ‘Happier’

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 29: Olivia Rodrigo attends the "Happier Than Ever: The Destination" celebration, presented by Billie Eilish and Spotify, for the new album on July 29, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Spotify)LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 29: Olivia Rodrigo attends the "Happier Than Ever: The Destination" celebration, presented by Billie Eilish and Spotify, for the new album on July 29, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Spotify)
    Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

    The most underrated highlight on Sour, a fantastic Fifties-style doo-wop weeper with a mean streak. Olivia shows off her uniquely masterful flair for lines that come out of nowhere to deliver a sucker-punch. No matter how many times you hear this song, there’s never any way to be prepared for the disturbing moment when she casually sneers, “Think of me fondly when your hands are on her.” 

    Best line: “Do you tell her she’s the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen? And eternal love bullshit you know you’ll never mean?”

  • ‘All-American Bitch’

    Olivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RSOlivia Rodrigo performs during the opening night of her SOUR Tour at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on April 5th, 2022...Photographs by Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone..NO SYNDICATION..ID/RS
    Image Credit: Samuel Gehrke for Rolling Stone

    A perfect theme song to kick off Guts, with the righteous bravado of her riot-grrrl rock heroes in Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, or Babes in Toyland. This brat-punk rager begins the album the same way “Brutal” begins Sour, except Liv’s a little older and a lot more brutal. She isn’t trying to keep a lid on her attitude here, or her mouth — she doesn’t even get 30 seconds in before she’s boasting, “I’ve got the sun in my motherfucking pocket!” Rebel grrrl, you are the queen of my world.

    Best line: “I know my age and I act like it/I got what you can’t resist/I’m the perfect all-American bitch.”

  •  ‘U + ME = <3’

    BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 06: Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during Primavera Sound 2026 at Parc Del Forum on June 06, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)
    Image Credit: Xavi Torrent/Getty Images

    “They say modern love’s a cruel endeavor / And to that I say: fuck it, whatever” — the way Olivia caps off that motto with a defiant second “whateverrrr!” is the most perfect moment on an album that’s a soul-crushing pile-up of perfect moments. “I know everybody changes, but I hope that we don’t” is such a simple yet emotionally powerful line, especially since that’s what a heart is, something designed to keep changing forever. Every detail hits home: the surging Eighties jangle of the blue-sunshine guitar, the way she sighs “ever and ever and ever,” even the yacht-rock-loving big sister. Here’s sending out a prayer for Karen O to join Olivia for this one at Daisy Chain Fields.

    Best line: “Tell me yet again about how we met and what you thought of me.”

  • ‘Brutal’

    'Brutal' screen shot'Brutal' screen shot

    How upset is she? Unrelentlessly! What a hardcore rock & roll teen-angst anthem. Olivia jumps out of the speakers, demanding some answers: “I’m so sick of 17/Where’s my fucking teenage dream?” She stands in the punk rock tradition of Poly Styrene, who would have loved this song. You go right on refusing to enjoy your youth, Olivia. Parallel parking is overrated.

    Best line: “Ego crush is so severe/God, it’s brutal out here!”

  • ‘Vampire’

    'Vampire' screen shot'Vampire' screen shot

    “Look at you, cool guy” is one of the best taunts in any break-up song, ever. Carly Simon surely wishes she thought of that line for “You’re So Vain.” Olivia sinks her fangs into a social-climbing fame monster who tries out his vampiric tricks on the most vulnerable girls, “because girls your age know better.” “Vampire” was the first single from Guts, and blew up instantly into a Number One that has just kept sounding better (and meaner) in heavy rotation, with the disco-style build-up to the hi-NRG chorus.

    Best line: “You sank your teeth into me / Blood sucker, fame fucker/Bleeding me dry like a goddamn vampire.”

  • ‘Obsessed’

    'Obsessed''Obsessed'
    Image Credit: Youtube

    Olivia packs so much psychosexual rage into three minutes, seething with paranoid fury and petty jealousy, ranting, “I’m so obsessed with your ex! I know she’s been asleep on my side of your bed!” Weirdly, “Obsessed” didn’t even make the album — she saved it for the deluxe Guts (Spilled). (It got bumped to make room for “The Grudge.”) But it’s the toughest, darkest, wittiest most startling rock blast she’s ever done, co-written with St. Vincent. O-Rod can’t stop fantasizing about the mystery girl who got away — she barely even notices her poor boyfriend, because he’ll never get her hot the way his ex does. She asks questions where she definitely doesn’t want to hear the answer. (“Is she friends with your friends? Is she good in bed?”) But the sly way she coos “I got issues, I can’t help it baby,” the Nirvana loud/quiet/loud guitar roar, her “Jolene”-style lust for the other woman — it’s a bad-vibes bombshell.

    Best line: “She’s got those lips, she’s got those hips, the life of every fucking party.”

  • ‘Drop Dead’

    'Drop Dead''Drop Dead'
    Image Credit: Youtube

    Fact: Happy love songs are much tougher to pull off than sad ones. But “Drop Dead” is an over-the-top mega-crush anthem unlike anything else in her songbook, proving why Olivia’s playful tunes are every bit as nuanced and complex as her weepers. It’s an intricately crafted gem, as if she’s trying to combine Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” and Pulp’s “Common People” into the same song. But “Drop Dead” never stops exploding, letting her feminine intuition run wild. (It’s full of callbacks to her 2025 Glastonbury triumph — like the way she was seen in the crowd screaming along with Pulp, not to mention her shirt that teased the line “you know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven.’”) Hell, even lyrics about astrology can’t ruin it. If you don’t swoon at the final “kiss me and I miiiiight” crescendo, your batteries need a serious recharge. 

    Best line: “Yeah, I’d love it if you walk me home/If you promise we can go real slow/‘Cause I’ve got chewing gum and a bunch of stuff I’d like to know.”

  • ‘The Cure’

    'The Cure''The Cure'
    Image Credit: Youtube

    What a heartbreaker of a song. Olivia calls “The Cure” the “thesis statement of You Look Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love.” The acoustic guitar beams in from Liz Phair — “Glory,” that’s the one. But the wispy vocal sounds like a Nineties dream where Juliana Hatfield joined the Smashing Pumpkins in 1992, as it ebbs and flows like “Disarm.” It’s a wrenchingly vulnerable ballad where she confides, “I used to play a game in my head when I date a guy.” Some game. Yet despite all her self-doubt, “The Cure” is also full of empathy for her lover’s struggles to ease her pain. (“I’ve got toxins in my bloodstream you tried so hard to suck out” is such a clever callback to the “Vampire” bloodsucker.) Not necessarily a break-up song — just the moment in any relationship when you realize it won’t magically fix your issues, even when you’re both trying.

    Best line: “Why can’t you come stitch me up?”

TAGGED: Dan Nigro, David Byrne, Featured, Joan Jett, Joni Mitchell, Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith, Weezer
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