Sour

 February 18, 2026

Dear listeners,

The purpose of music is to tell a story; often one that someone has gone through. Olivia Rodrigo has 11 songs in her 2021 album SOUR, and each one expresses the “sour” feeling of adapting and moving on. Rodrigo has won three Grammy awards, seven Billboard Music awards, four MTV awards, five iHeart Radio Music awards, four People’s Choice awards, an American Music Award, a Brit award, and a Juno award. She is known throughout the world for her music, and her efforts pay off. 

Olivia Rodrigo tells a twisted story through her songs. Music has been a big part of Olivia’s life, starting her singing and songwriting career at the age of 5. She grew up in Temicula as an only child, and began singing at local bars and parks. Then, she started doing musicals, before being cast in Disney’s High School Musical and Bizaardvark at only the age of 12. Rodrigo then decided to move on to writing her own songs and publishing them. She has now made a huge impact on the music industry, with only a few albums. 

Olivia has 2 albums; GUTS and SOUR (both written in all caps). SOUR was her first album, released in 2021. It’s an album that is based on first heartbreak, an experience that happens to everybody at some point in their life. It also focuses on how some people are expected to be “perfect”, and how those expectations aren’t always met. SOUR also includes songs about the feelings of a lot of teenagers; insecurity, self doubt, rejection, and the feeling of being betrayed. The album’s name, SOUR, comes from the sour feelings in everyone's life, especially including her. She wrote this album when she was a teenager herself, at 17 years old. Her second album GUTS was released two years later, in 2023. GUTS didn’t have the same exact theme, but the two were similar. SOUR focuses mainly on sour feeling and heartbreak, while GUTS directs the message to feeling shame, embarrassment, heartache, and the pressures of fame. They both have mainly the same impact; of the normal feelings of a human. Most songwriters don’t aim their entire album on that theme, even if it’s all relatable. Olivia Rodrigo wanted most people to feel how she felt, "I write to figure out how I feel, to move through my emotions, and to commemorate and honor seasons of my life"(Olivia Rodrigo). It’s normal for anyone to feel these emotions, and Rodrigo proves that.

Olivia isn’t ending her career here, with her third album OR3 coming this spring. OR3 is going to be focused on new stories and chapters of her life. New beginnings is a common theme in this new album; a big difference from her other albums. The name represents the third album of Olivia Rodrigo, and the OR stands for her initials,  OR.

SOUR has a message that you don’t find in most albums. But, the emotions that Rodrigo wrote about were all very relatable, “You will never have to hurt the way you know that I do”( Good 4 u, Olivia Rodrigo). She states things that most people go through, yet not a lot of songs mention them. Rodrigo has a harder life than other singers, talking about how she got overwhelmed from getting fame from a young age, and that has caused her to have mental health issues. Those facts show up in all of her SOUR songs, especially the ‘me versus her’ idea that self doubt brings a lot. The theme that Rodrigo followed was that being seventeen and struggling while growing up while trying to not be sour about it is hard for all teenagers.

Olivia Rodrigo has featured with multiple people; and she has come close with every one of them. Noah Kahan, Avril Lavigne, Sheryl Crow, Lily Allen, and Robert Smith of the Cure have appeared in some of her tours and songs. Chappell Roan has also collaborated with Rodrigo, being the back-up vocalist for multiple of her songs. Gracie Abrams also opened for most of her SOUR tours in 2021-2022. 

Taylor Swift has always been a big role model for Rodrigo. However, many have accused Olivia of copying multiple songs by her. Rodrigo’s “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back”, was interpreted for Taylor’s “New Year’s Day”, even though she didn’t copy. Also, “Deja Vu”  was similar to Swift’s “Cruel Summer”. Although they all had resemblance, that didn’t mean they were plagiarized. Taylor Swift even threatened to sue Olivia especially because of one of her biggest hits, Deja Vu. Rodrigo admitted that it was getting too much, and eventually gave Taylor 50% of the credit. Later, everyone realized that Olivia and Taylor had always been pretty close; a sign of that being SOUR’s release date, 5-21-2021. If you add up all the individual numbers, it equals Taylor’s favorite number, 13. 

Through all of the twists and turns throughout her life,  with relationship struggles, to coming of age, to having self doubt; Olivia Rodrigo and her songs still come out top, and with more to come.                      

Best,

Charlotte