when you get around to finishing OR's new album (i get it, i fell HARD for Drop Dead as well, couldn't stop replaying it for a while), please share your thoughts on here, it should be a fun discussion. i'd only been very casually into olivia's music, always thought she was a very talented girl with lots of potential, who'd written many quite fun, catchy, smart and humorous tunes, but she'd only had a handful of songs i truly LOVED because most of her catalogue still felt a little too young for me to connect hard with, you know? like, it was too teen even on Guts which was a coming-of-age record (it's understandable though, i think she was only 19 when it was released, so its themes were definitely age-appropriate). but with OR3, i really feel like she's finally reached that adult potential, it's soo good, mature, evocative and it's genuinely making me FEEL strongly the emotions it tries to convey. i've been rooting for this girl from a bit of a distance since the Sour era, so i'm really happy for her and proud. and since this is a taylor snark blog, i sure as hell hope taylor listens to it and allows it to inspire her as an artist instead of avoiding it or crashing out in envy about its commercial success and critical acclaim
as promised, i listened to the full album and took notes as i went!
drop dead - as i said before, the grandiosity of outsized emotions toward a new love is so well captured in this track. who even writes lyrics like 'looking like an angel on the walls of versailles' in the first place, but to double it up with that fun, looping, catchy melody - love!
stupid song - this is fabulous, again, at capturing the magic and mania of new love, how it has you thinking in loops and dreaming of that person, how even the music you listen to can't quite capture the magical essence of what you see in them. it sounds beautiful and somehow energetic, and her voice is lovely and earnest.
honeybee - ooooh, the whispery, wispy vibe is gorgeous. love the simple accompaniment that builds into a more orchestral arrangement. then the angelic chorus!!!! the lullaby-like elements add sort of an innocence but there's a sadness too. she seems very self-aware when she is hoping for things she wants desperately, but knows there is a strong risk of disappointment.
maggots for brains - yesss the 80s vibes are here! but she doesn't settle for one steady underlying beat or electronic line as background, she injects the coolest complicated transitions. i would say this is very sophisticated production and instrumentation.
U + me = ᐸ3 - absolutely fire guitar lines in this! the wistful/hopeful tone makes me think of something like 'don't you forget about me' from 'the breakfast club.'
my way - i like the stickier grunge beat! this is very similar to the 'good 4 u' olivia i love on the choruses of both. i love her attitude on the half-spoken part. love to see her gain some real confidence: 'that's it, i won.'
purple - the layered vocals are very pretty. again, absolute fire production underlying the vocals - she's really creating a whole soundscape on every single song. i hear a tiny bit of 'just like heaven' on this, which she references on drop dead.
the cure - introspective, honest, and beautifully arranged, i think this will be on a list of career highlights for her.
begged - this is our driver's license olivia all grown up! gorgeous vocals, heartbreaking emotional honesty.
what's wrong with me - i love the beat on this, it gives it a great 90s rock infused sound. great guest vocals!!! i love the underlying theme in the album of her paying homage to the cure, whose music she clearly adores.
less - a less is more moment (pun intended). she strips back the arrangement and lets her voice and writing shine. i think going so minimalist on the arrangement mirrors how lonely she is in these feelings and sad meditations. i think it's also important that she varies how much production she uses, since some tracks are full of complex instrumentation. this song is giving me norah jones vibes somehow
expectations - i like the message and it feels like it could owe something to the tradition of songs like 'express yourself' by madonna (a good thing). the background of male singers reiterating 'she has expectations' is literally so funny, it's like she created her own chorus line of men who recognize she has a starring role in her own life!
cigarette smoke - i love the guitar strumming, it makes it feel like she's having a quiet moment to herself writing acoustically, meditating on her relationship with the person she's talking about in the song. it reminds me of audrey hepburn singing moon river on the fire escape in 'breakfast at tiffany's.' there's somehow a rainy, lonely feeling to it.
she very much fulfills the promise of the album's title. her choices of production elements, collaborators, and motifs is very smart and sophisticated.
