Riding high on the wave of her successful first three singles and a well-received performance on Saturday Night Live, teen singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo dropped her debut album, Sour, ten days ago.
Sour is a solid debut, synthesizing Rodrigo’s many influences into a sound all her own. She hopscotches between acoustic ballads, punk and pop, and sounds fully at home with each.
Rodrigo’s idol, Taylor Swift, is the biggest influence here — she even interpolates the piano from Swift’s ‘New Year’s Day’ on ‘1 step forward, 3 steps back.’ But I also hear a lot of Lorde and Billie Eilish, along with Paramore. She has good taste in musical role models.
Sour is a bit too heavy on slow, dramatic break-up songs. ‘Drivers license’ is a deserved phenomenon, but four or five tracks chase its tail with less success.
Rodrigo is more successful when mining other aspects of teenage life, as on the deliriously brash opener ‘brutal’ and on today’s SOTD, ‘jealousy, jealousy,’ about the unhealthy horrors of social media.
Sour lives up to the promise of Rodrigo’s meteoric rise and heralds the arrival of an exciting new songwriting voice.
I kinda wanna throw my phone across the room
‘Cause all I see are girls too good to be true
With paper-white teeth and perfect bodies
Wish I didn’t care
[Pre-Chorus]
I know their beauty’s not my lack
But it feels like that weight is on my back
And I can’t let it go
[Chorus]
Com-comparison is killin’ me slowly
I think I think too much
‘Bout kids who don’t know me
I’m so sick of myself
I’d rather be, rather be
Anyone, anyone else
My jealousy, jealousy started followin’ me (He-he-he, he)
Started followin’ me (He-he-he, he)
[Verse 2]
And I see everyone gettin’ all the things I want
I’m happy for them, but then again, I’m not
Just cool vintage clothes and vacation photos
I can’t stand it
Oh God, I sound crazy
[Pre-Chorus]
Their win is not my loss
I know it’s true, but
I can’t help gettin’ caught up in it all
[Chorus]
Com-comparison is killin’ me slowly
I think I think too much
‘Bout kids who don’t know me
I’m so sick of myself
Rather be, rather be
Anyone, anyone else
My jealousy, jealousy (Yeah)
[Bridge]
All your friends are so cool, you go out every night
In your daddy’s nice car, yeah, you’re livin’ the life
Got a pretty face, a pretty boyfriend, too
I wanna be you so bad and I don’t even know you
All I see is what I should be
Happier, prettier, jealousy, jealousy
All I see is what I should be
I’m losin’ it, all I get’s jealousy, jealousy
[Chorus]
Com-comparison is killin’ me slowly
I think I think too much
‘Bout kids who don’t know me
And I’m so sick of myself
Rather be, rather be (Oh, oh)
Anyone, anyone else (Anybody else)
Jealousy, jealousy
Oh, I’m so sick of myself
I’d rather be, rather be (Oh-oh-oh)
Anyone, anyone else
Jealousy, jealousy started followin’ me
Meet Me In Montauk 
At some point, Swift’s music became influenced by Lorde, so it makes sense that some of that influence would find its way to Rodrigo. I’ve liked what I have heard so far and I too am looking forward to hearing what’s to come.
Yay! This is one of my very favorites on the album too. I do think she has some other successful heart breakers on there. “happier” and “favorite crime” being my favorites of the ones I didn’t hear before. I think I return to “brutal,” “jealousy, jealousy,” and “deja vu” the most.
I’ve only heard the album through once, and I didn’t enjoy this song as much then as I’m liking it today, reading the lyrics and better appreciating that’s she’s not singing about being jealous of the new girlfriend, which is what I thought on that first listen.