you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love is a near-perfect jab at reconciling the creative processes, morphing from pre- to post-love. Off the heels of a high-profile heartbreak, one can only imagine the struggle with which Olivia Rodrigo reconfigured an entire album. We know this through efforts made to make originally love songs “creepier”, and separating the album into two distinct acts: falling (and being) in love, and heartbreak. 

Notably, before the actual release of the album, Rodrigo broke away from the four-letter tradition from her previous albums. She firmly reasserted her dominance over her musical legacy, valuable indeed when considering how the internet always wants a say. For her to step back, realise her own visions and ignore the outside noise is something important, and reaffirms something I think is now well-known: Rodrigo knows what she’s doing. 

The first half of the album paces well—the slow descent into maddening co-dependency from a wonderfully successful first date is relatable and journalled comprehensively. The songs on this half are standouts and really speak to a proper execution of a vision, which Rodrigo evidently held onto. All the songs host a tinge of anxiety, complemented by their leader, drop dead, a ghastly title for what should be the love-ridden section. The tone is set, however, and the songs are all adjusted to feelings of nervousness within a relationship. 

One of the highlights of the album, perhaps the peak of the first half, is maggots for brains, which fascinatingly uncovers the element of being so in love you disgust yourself. She diarises feeling “dirty” and “rotten”, and like a “sad shell of a woman”. The upbeat pop-rock sound—consistent with much of the album until this point—offers a confusing introspection into her experience of loving hard, maybe too hard. It also analyses an underrepresented element of love in songs: lovesickness. The graphic imagery is appropriate (and so cool), and the illness feels unending. honeybee is the only slow song on the love half, and it’s not necessarily a standout in terms of ballads. Maybe it’s diminished by the roaring, memorable ballads of the heartbreak half, but it falls short amongst its truly outstanding peers. 

stupid song, honeybee’s predecessor, for example, is an absolute classic: a wonderful divulgence into the depths of falling for someone, “I feel totally insane”, and a great showcase of Rodrigo’s vocals, which are undoubtedly better than ever. Interestingly, it seems love is not only a feeling but an action of “melt[ing] with [someone],” which is featured on purple. This song is the point where love turns to comfort, then turns to co-dependency, and the world cannot be deciphered between the singer’s and her love interest’s perspectives. This synthy sound is addictive, and a shift in pace from the intensity of my way and u + me = <3, almost breaking the third wall and realising that the love has turned to a concerning obsession. All in all, a resounding success for the “love” half of the album.

the cure indicates a shift in tone—we’ve now well and truly travelled into the despair of heartbreak. Shifting into a minor key, also, Rodrigo has penned one of the best songs of her three-album run. “I thought I found the antidote this time”, she diarises, later clarifying, “but I’m unravelled”, in a harmonising centre that later unravels to a bridge with the same build-up: “why can’t you come stitch me up/why can’t it ever be enough”. The middle eight sees Rodrigo soaring over notes and amping up her anxiety. It’s at once revelatory and deeply vulnerable. This half also sees the first-ever feature on an Olivia Rodrigo song, with Robert Smith from The Cure joining her for the confused and pressing what’s wrong with me. It isn’t necessarily a main attraction on this album, but it’s certainly reminiscent of the upbeat nervousness, as exhibited in the love half. Like her worst fears have since been realised, and now there’s a need to sit in the spoils. 

begged and less are fan favourites on this album. With the former being almost a grown-up version of favourite crimeand the latter the aged version of 1 step forward, 3 steps back, Rodrigo exhibits her growth casually and sadly. less is a masterclass in confessional songwriting; vignettes of a “trip to Big Sur”, “crying on the curb at LAX”, and “recreating [a] favourite day”, all contribute to a culture of despondency and a romance falling apart, overlayed by the dragging piano instrumental. expectations is a fun moment, cleverly placed between less and cigarette smoke to perhaps suggest the fluctuating emotions of a heartbreak. 

expectations is the breakdown, realising-your-worth phase of the healing that crashes and burns into cigarette smoke. Now, this is an album closer. Rodrigo proves, once and for all, that her musical legacy is hers alone, with a closer that reaches for references across the album. “better than begging for you to stand up for me, honeybee” is such an interestingly vicious line, calling to the now-antagonist, and drawing on the strength of the strings in the background. It’s such a full-circle way to end the album, and makes the work read like a book, a narrative of falling for and out, and ends on the unbridled anger of the mystified “cigarette smoke” that remains. “Why’d I try at all?” she asks, before urging, “Tell me something honest, so the memories go dark”, creating the perfect cycle. 

Listeners return to the start, to “drop[ping] dead”, and fall again to “memories go[ing] dark”, elucidating a timelessness many pop-stars spend whole careers trying to cultivate. Rodrigo has done it by the third album. you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love forms the love-sick ramblings of a relationship’s truthful observer, who then curates these emotions into a narrative structure. It’s admirable, and a testament to witnessing a lasting legacy being formed.