SOUR: One Year Later and What Made It So Successful

BY Liam Gillin (HE/HIM)

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR turned her into one of the biggest singers in the world. Debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, it also received more than 168 award nominations and kicked off one of the biggest concert tours this year. As of July 2022, SOUR has streamed more than a billion times on Spotify. One year later, SOUR still has the same presence that it did when it was released in May 2021. Let’s dive into what has made SOUR a worldwide hit and how it will be one for the history books. 

If SOUR can be described in one word it would be “relatable.” Olivia Rodrigo’s songwriting abilities are one of admiration. According to Sync Biz, Rodrigo spent every day of quarantine writing a brand new song to enhance her songwriting skills. SOUR really showcases her ability of channeling personal experience in order to create music that will relate to a wide range of demographics.

COURTESY OF GEFFEN/INTERSCOPE.

Many critics have seen SOUR as just an album of “sad teen girl break up songs.” Now while the album does include somber break up songs such as “Enough For You” and “Traitor”, break up songs are not the entirety of the album. “Jealousy, Jealousy” and “Brutal” are songs about comparing your life to others around you and the teenage angst that comes with it. Those songs also include a lot of pop and punk rock sounds that really make you feel that you are watching a high school movie from the early 2000s.

It is important that when one listens to SOUR that they listen from beginning to end because it truly is a story. Overall, SOUR is about the experience of being a teenager. Each song channels the overwhelming emotions of adolescence such as insecurity, envy, and chaos. “Driver’s License” reflects on the accomplishment of getting the freedom to drive, but the question of whether obtaining your license was even worth it when you can’t drive with the person you once loved. “Favorite Crime” is carried by a beautiful acoustic guitar; a song of acceptance of the mistakes we may make in trying to obtain a relationship.

Olivia Rodrigo releasing SOUR during the pandemic was crucial to her to the album’s success. She released it during a time when the world was vulnerable. The pandemic made us stressed and angry. SOUR was the album for the people who had a lot to say but just didn’t know how to say it. Whether you were going through a breakup or healing your inner teenager, SOUR has something for everyone. It will be going into the history books for not only breaking records but for perfectly showcasing the overwhelming emotions of adolescence and the pandemic.