- 2 days ago
Olivia Rodrigo takes Pitchfork through the making of her new album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love breaking down the songwriting stories behind three of her newest tracks: ”stupid song,” ”the cure,” and “cigarette smoke.”Preorder Pitchfork's Olivia Rodrigo zine: https://www.roughtrade.com/en-us/product/pitchfork-zine-olivia-rodrigoRead the cover story: https://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/olivia-rodrigo-interview/Patti Smith, circa 1974 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.
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00:03Every time I write a song it's just a wildly different experience. I can't
00:07really say like this is the tried-and-true thing that happens every
00:11time. It's just very, very different.
00:22How did I write Stupid Song? Like...
00:24There's a spark in the dark and my clothes all caught aflame. You should feel how I feel when somebody
00:31says your name.
00:33I'm a car speeding down the boulevard without a break. And I want you more than any stupid song could
00:40ever say.
00:43Yeah, but anyway.
00:47It's the only song that I ever wrote on my grand piano in New York and it was really expensive.
00:52And I was like, well, I didn't write any songs on it, but this one, this one, I got it
00:56out in like
00:56the last few weeks of me living in that apartment. So it was all worth it.
01:00It's like a really beautiful story. I got home from England and I,
01:04whenever I'm in England for a while, you obviously adjust to the time zone.
01:06And so I flew back to New York and I just woke up at like 4.30 in the morning,
01:10wide awake, couldn't go back to sleep. And I decided that I was going to go on a walk.
01:14And it was like so beautiful. The sun was just rising. I'm never up that early.
01:17And also like, it was kind of a little hard to walk around New York for me at the time.
01:21Like
01:21kind of like people would keep coming up and asking for pictures. But at dawn,
01:25I was completely alone and it was the most like beautiful, private, wonderful experience.
01:31And so I was going on this walk and feeling so great about myself. And then this guy,
01:35this guy walks up to me and I'm like, oh, I thought he was going to ask for a picture.
01:38Like, I'm like, oh yeah, like, that's cool. It's cool. And he walks up and he goes,
01:41you are so beautiful. Like, can I take you to dinner? And I was like, no, but like, wow,
01:46thank you so much. And I was so like, just joyful and happy. And I went home and I wrote
01:51this song about like being infatuated with someone and just like in total limerence. And
01:57so yeah, it makes me, it makes me really happy to listen to it. And it really reminds me of
02:00being in New York.
02:14Yeah, I wrote it on piano. And so obviously there's an element of it that's sort of piano ballady,
02:19but like it had such energy and we're like, let's put dance drums in there. And I think that little
02:24bridge part, they're like, it's my favorite part of the song. I love that part. And it took us,
02:34I think, I think that was the last thing on the record we finished because we just could not figure
02:37out what that part was supposed to be. We tried everything under the sun. And yeah, I love that
02:42bit. Whenever I play this song for people, they're like, it's like three songs stitched together,
02:45but in kind of a cool way. And I think that that was the, that was the vibe. That's what
02:49we were going for.
02:58Yeah. I think like the builds, I just sort of like write that way. I don't really know
03:05why. I've just always like loved a song that like is very dynamic. Like that's the type of music that
03:12I listen to. I think that's why I like rock music so much. I like something that's just like really
03:15loud
03:16sometimes. And Dan and I just like, we really love a power ballad. We, we actually really love
03:22like meatloaf songs sometimes. Cause we're like, this is like, this is the ultimate power ballad.
03:27I would do anything for love. I had a lot of fun writing sour and I felt really creatively inspired.
03:34Obviously I was like learning how to write songs for the first time. And I was going through this really
03:38emotional breakup, obviously. And, um, I think guts was really hard to write because I felt so much
03:43pressure from outside and so much self doubt. And, um, it was just, it was a really interesting
03:48situation to thrust a teenager into, you know, like you had this gigantic album, now go like do it
03:53again. And I was really, really scared. And I think this third album, I've done so much like work on
03:59myself and building my confidence and, you know, gotten to travel the world and play all these songs
04:04that I felt like really free to just have fun and make music like, uh, you know, just like I
04:10used to
04:11when I was younger. And so it's been really, really awesome feeling. I don't even know how the idea came
04:16up, but I just remember sitting on my couch and I'm like no master guitarist, but I remember playing the,
04:21the, the.
04:36I'm thinking that that sounded really cool. And then the, all the pretty girls in the foreground
04:42um, kind of came after that, but, uh, I just like loved that little thing. And, uh, so I wrote
04:50that and
04:50I wrote a chorus that wasn't very good. And I was like, fuck, like I just know that, that, that
04:54riff
04:54is cool. And like these lyrics are really cool. And what I'm trying to say is like an interesting
04:57take on like a breakup song. It's not like a breakup song. It's not a love song. It's like this
05:01sort of
05:01weird thing in the middle that I had been trying to express for a long time. And so I took
05:05it to Dan
05:06the next day and we worked on it for a few hours and cracked the chorus. And it was really
05:09exciting.
05:10And I remember when we did it, we were like, yeah, yeah. Okay. Good job. Good job. Yeah. We walked
05:15to the studio and felt really good.
05:16And that doesn't always happen. Sometimes you walk out of the studio and you feel really bad. Um, but, uh,
05:21yeah, I was really excited by it. And, um, Dan went in and added strings, which made it just extra
05:26emotional.
05:27I think the sonics and the textures and the, you know, the instruments that we decided to use all sort
05:32of represent the feeling of falling in love or maybe being disappointed or, um, I don't know,
05:37there's a lot of like orchestral stuff in it. And, uh, I think like that's what it feels like to
05:42fall in love.
05:42It kind of just feels like this, like really heartbreaking, beautiful violin. And so, um,
05:47yeah, I think the sentiment came first and the instrumentation kind of worked to support that.
06:00I remember trying to fit I'm unraveled into another song and thinking that that was just a really
06:05perfect poignant way of describing what it feels like to know someone really deeply and feel like,
06:10oh my God, it's really terrifying. I'm like really raw right now. Like I'm on route. Like,
06:15I think that when you're in a, a deep intimate relationship, it sort of just feels like everything
06:19that you thought you knew about yourself kind of sort of comes and unraveled a little bit and you're
06:23just like naked. And so I thought that there was a really cool choice of word. And so I, I
06:27remember
06:28trying to fit it into the song and it works perfect.
06:29Why can't it ever be me? Why can't you trust it to me? Why can't it ever be me?
06:39Big little vocal arrangement there. I remember Dan being like, hit that note and he was like,
06:44okay, I'm going to try my hardest. High F.
06:51It's pretty high. I kind of thought it would sound a little cheesy, but like listening to it back,
06:56it feels really emotional. I like how in the verses, the lyrics are super hyper specific, like
07:04tally up the girls and he fucked till I start to cry. Like does it get more specific and dark
07:08than
07:08that? And then the chorus kind of opens up into this metaphor of, you know, there's like poison
07:12in my blood and you try to like cleanse me of it, but it doesn't matter because it's who I
07:17am.
07:17I don't know. I just like the dichotomy of those two living together.
07:27Yeah, it's really dark. Like listening to it back, I'm like, whoa, it's kind of a dark song,
07:32but it's cathartic for me as someone who wrote it. I remember writing it and feeling like I really
07:38got something off my chest that I've been trying to say for a long time. And so I hope that
07:42someone
07:42out there will listen to it and also feel some sense of catharsis. That'd be really, really great.
08:03When I listen to the album, this one is one that I really always come back to. I think the
08:07emotion
08:07is really potent. Dana and I were in the studio. I think we're finishing something else. We might have
08:12been finishing Stupid Song because we were trying to finish that for so long. And he just grabbed the
08:16guitar and started playing these chords. And I thought that they were so beautiful. And I
08:20instantly got this like kind of butterfly in my stomach feeling. And I get it sometimes when I'm
08:26like, feel like I'm stumbling upon something that's interesting. And so I was like, oh,
08:29I got to follow that. And I was like, let's stop what we're doing and try to write this song.
08:40We spent a long time in the vocal delivery of this one. I think
08:43that's something that I always have to keep in mind. I'm very like,
08:46whaaa! Sometimes I like, I have to remind myself that less is more in the vocal delivery occasionally.
08:53But yeah, this one does feel really intimate and it is really intimate. It's one of the like more
08:58raw-er songs on the album. Is that a word? Raw-er. But I really like, I really like the
09:04lyrics too.
09:04I tried to make the first chorus kind of ambiguous, which is always also a challenge for me too,
09:10that I like stretch myself as a songwriter trying to do. I really like the lyric, um,
09:14five beers in the fridge and the second car is gone. I just think it's kind of random. But also
09:18if you think about it, it's like, oh, you're alone in this house in a very specific, nuanced way.
09:22And so, uh, I really like that lyric. I feel like I'll put on a shirt or something.
09:26It's like, oh, you're like, oh, you're like, oh, you're all big miles away.
09:34Dana and I always joke, we were really trying to make the song subdued. We're like, the album is so,
09:39there's so much orchestration, there's so much instrumental, like, we should just try to like,
09:43keep it chill. And we wrote the song and we're like, oh, it just needs a big bridge. And I
09:46love the big bridge.
09:55There's a kind of piercing type of, uh, type of note there, but it's quite, quite emotional,
10:01quite dramatic, um, in proper Olivia fashion. It was the last song that we wrote for the record.
10:20And it's the last song on the record. It's very chronological. It just sort of happened that way.
10:23It's one of the songs on the album that's like, really actually like angry and kind of embittered,
10:29which, um, uh, you know, a lot of the songs on the record aren't like that. So it's a nice
10:34little
10:34flavor to kind of end it all with, obviously a little sad and depressing, but, uh, I think it was
10:39the perfect way to end the record and sort of close out the chapter. The album really exists as like
10:45a
10:45whole body of work in a way that I don't think my other albums did, which is cool. But I
10:51really like
10:52made this thing as like an experience. I think it kind of has a beginning, a middle and an end.
10:56And
10:56we sort of found that throughout the process, um, of making it. I think I set out to make an
11:02album
11:02that was like conquering the sad love song, which I've been saying lately. But, um, I think over the
11:07course of, of, of writing, I think that the relationship and like my feelings and just my
11:13experiences were sort of ebbing and flowing. And so I think the record represents that.
11:17I, I'm not the kind of person who's like, this is what the record's going to be. Like,
11:21I really do think that I sit down at the piano. I'm like, what is really pressing for me to
11:24say today?
11:24I don't think I'm like super calculated with the way that I go about it. Um, it's very just like
11:29what I need to get off my chest at any given time. But I think the record sort of started
11:33to make
11:33shape, um, towards the end in this like really beautiful arc and the story that sort of felt
11:39interesting and compelling to me. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.
11:42I'm happy with the way it turns out.
11:47I think the record was just as good as the progress for me I look forward to hearing
11:47That's what I love for you.
11:48Yeah, I love for you.
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