[Picture for a second, a messy desk and then picture me entering from out of a frame and wiping mess off the desk and taking a seat.]

Okay, so strictly speaking, I did not go through a break-up at the beginning of the month. And I say strictly speaking because the person who I was dating at the time and I were in fact just dating and I did the reasonably mature adult thing and asked if we could define the relationship. And if you were here last week (I also have to imagine you were here last week. I feel off actively promoting on social media because it’s exhausting and did not spark joy. The joy is the earnestness of the work), you know how that turned out.

Now, because I am increasingly convinced that the universe has a diabolical sense of humor, Olivia Rodrigo’s junior album (is that an actual term? I know we use freshman and sophomore, but I guess the analogy breaks down past two) you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love released on June 12th, a week after everything happened.

[Picture for a second if you will, me shrugging my shoulders and making strained hand gestures.]

There are a few things I’d like to now establish.

1) For however much media I have reviewed, I have never actually reviewed a musical album before. I have reviewed comic books, book books, television shows, movies, plays, video games, and board games. But somehow, never a musical album.

2) I think part of that is because I don’t typically consume an album. The way that I listen to music tends to be letting the YouTube algorithm decide the next track on a whim and then latching onto a single song that becomes my obsession for a couple weeks, which will then transform into exploring that artist’s discography for another couple weeks, and then eventually the algorithm provides another seed to start the process all over.

3) As a byproduct of this scattershot approach, I have discovered many bands who inevitably release albums. And I will typically listen to the album once or twice, identify the tracks that speak to me the most and then listen to those songs almost exclusively.

4) Due to the exact confluence of life, the universe, and everything, I find myself listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love on repeat, in full, and I think I’m on my fifth play through which is unheard of for me.

[Picture for a second, me holding my face in my palms for a second before resuming]

When Sour came out in 2021, my interest was piqued largely because I gravitate to fellow Filipino Americans, and the singles were fun and catchy. And when Guts came out in 2023, I fell for even more of the album.

I am a (not quite) 35 masculine presenting non-binary person whose shared experience with Olivia pretty much starts at “being Filipino American” and stops at “being sad and conflicted about relationships.”

And yet this album speaks to me in a way that I haven’t felt since I was first listening to music as a teenager and used my own money to pick up a CD.

Now, is a part of that due to the exact confluence of life, the universe, and everything? Yes.

Is a part of that due to the fact that Olivia is an incredibly talented musician and songwriter who is able to harness the deeply specific and personal to reach the masses and has now shown a willingness to experiment and play with genre to her heart’s content?

This album has a clean narrative arc. Each song has its own journey and identity and manages to be enthralling in its own right while also being in lock stop conversation with the other songs on the album. It is an album generating perpetual emotional whiplash in the best way possible. It is so cohesive, that I am again listening to the album on repeat and not any particular single. The three leading singles are incredible. I hope “Maggots for Brains” gets the same treatment. Her collaboration with Robert Smith was absolutely phenomenal. Even the songs I don’t quite vibe with I am pretty sure are a function of me being abstractly sad more than anything else and they are still excellent tracks.

[Picture for a second, me listening to “Cigarette Smoke” as I am writing the end of the review.]

Everything exists in context. This review. Olivia’s latest album. Maybe I won’t have as strong feelings after I’m done being abstractly sad over something that, again, strictly speaking wasn’t a break up.

But right now, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love gets the highest accolade from me for moving me so much that I felt compelled to write about and making me want to continue making art because it is proof of the singular truism.

You gotta make something that only you could make. Only you would make.

And goddamnit, I think Olivia Rodrigo is living that truth.