The poetics of Olivia Rodrigo

poet laureate of Gen-Z angst

Ah, Olivia Rodrigo.

She’s a powerhouse whose songs I would call “teenage diary core.”

They have a confessional quality that makes them ripe for belting—except for the fact that many are quite hard to sing.

Her debut album, SOUR, pairs lowercase song titles with a sticker-face cover (a nod to acne stickers, no?) for the perfect alcohol-free cocktail of adolescence.

And while she might not be known as “poetic” in the Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan kind of way, there’s quite a lot of poetry simmering under the surface of the songs. So with that, I give you five poetic moments from SOUR:

1. brutal

I’m so insecure, I think
that I’ll die before I drink.

—“brutal”

This is the very first line of the album (aside her spoken “I want it to be, like, messy”), and already, a poetic moment.

Here, she’s using a device called enjambment in which you split a line in the middle of the phrase. This kind of a thing is more visible on paper, but you can literally hear it in the song when she pauses after “I think.”

It creates a bit of a double meaning. On the surface, we can tell she’s worried this brutal world is going to “do her in” before she’s even old enough to drink.

But by adding that pause, she’s created the phrase “I’m so insecure, I think.” It’s a declarative statement that’s then immediately followed by a qualifier (“I think”), just to underscore her insecurity. Such a clever opener to the album.

2. enough for you

But God, you couldn’t have cared less
about someone who loved you more.

—“enough for you”

If someone spoke this line in conversation, you’d likely be confused. More than what? More than less? More than you?

But in the context of a song, I find it incredibly sophisticated.

The line tiptoes toward a poetic device called antithesis, which is when you put contrasting things in a parallel structure. Think of Charles Dickens’ “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

But instead of saying something like “you couldn’t have cared less, I couldn’t have loved more,” this line actually threads them together into one continuous thought: “you couldn’t have cared less about someone who loved you more.”

It has that fluid, stream-of-consciousness quality that is so Rodrigo to me—as if she’s writing feverishly in a diary and can’t come up for air.

Ok now quick tangential break for one of my favorite trends:

@imacyroxsI turned out fine I promise

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Ok, now back to it.

3. hope ur ok

Does she know how proud I am she was created
with the courage to unlearn all of their hatred?

—“hope ur ok”

A little enjambment going on here again.

She’s talking about a friend born into unloving home. “Does she know how proud I am she was created?” could stand alone, but the second line (which is so beautifully-phrased) gives it that same duality and run-on quality as above.

4. happier

I hope you’re happy,
but don’t be happier

—“happier”

In this song to an ex, antithesis rears its head again. Or… almost.

The line creates a parallel structure (I hope you’re this, but not this), but “happy” and “happier” aren’t opposites like you’d expect them to be.

In fact, they’re essentially the same adjective, just with the latter in the comparative form.

So what we have here is a paradox of sorts. It makes you wonder, where is the line between “happy” and “happier”? Simple, but it packs a punch.

5. favorite crime

Every time a siren sounds,
I wonder if you’re around
’Cause you know that I’d do it all again.

—“favorite crime”

This one is also directed to an ex—but with a twist. Here, she’s admitting to willingly letting herself be hurt, referring to the heartbreak as her “favorite crime.”

And in this line, there’s a subtle double metaphor.

We might take it as every time she hears an emergency siren, she imagines the ex to be close by—always the culprit of her favorite crime.

But we also might take it as a mythological siren—the beautiful creatures who lured sailors to their death with song. This seems to track with the line that follows: “’Cause you know that I’d do it all again.” Her ex is a siren luring her back, and she is ready to answer.

I particularly love this interpretation because of the gender reversal. Typically, a siren is portrayed as female, but—assuming this ex is male like the rest of the album—here, she’s turned “temptress” to “tempter.” That’s a switch I haven’t seen often.

—

And that’s a wrap. Olivia Rodrigo fans, any bangers I missed?

🐱
emma