{"id":219,"date":"2023-07-02T14:16:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T18:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2023-07-02T14:16:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T18:16:56","slug":"olivia-rodrigos-comeback-vampire-will-sink-its-teeth-into-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/02\/olivia-rodrigos-comeback-vampire-will-sink-its-teeth-into-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s Comeback \u2018Vampire\u2019 will Sink its Teeth Into You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two years after teen pop-rock singer-songwriter sensation Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album, SOUR<\/em>, with no new music since, she finally gave fans the song that they have been waiting on the edge of their seats for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOUR was an emotional rollercoaster of an album describing her breakup with her ex-boyfriend, Joshua Bassett, who also was her co-star on the Disney Channel Series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series<\/em>. She describes the feelings of getting dumped for someone else, regretting the decisions you\u2019ve made in a relationship, trying to grieve but also not let it consume you, and all the while trying to be a teenager in this insane modern day world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOUR broke many records, it became the first album in all of spotify history to have all songs exceed 200 million streams, and became the first album released in this century to spend almost two years in the top 10 of billboard 200.<\/a> It was the first song to hit one billion global streams in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why has Olivia Rodrigo been so successful? Personally, I think it\u2019s due to many things. First of all, I think her roles on Disney Channel (and more obscurely, she starred in an American Girl<\/em> movie<\/a> at the age of 12) helped boost her awareness. She already had her name in the industry, so when she released her first immediately-viral single, Drivers License in 2021, she already was a familiar face. Secondly, I think it\u2019s her songwriting; she has hard-hitting lyrics that you can feel throughout your soul and that you can really connect to\u2013and her instrumentals always somehow kill you just as much as her lyrics can. Thirdly, I think it\u2019s her relatability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the younger end of Gen-Z, it was like a breath of fresh air. We were tired of all of our role models and favorite stars all being 20 years older than us. And there she was, someone just a little bit older\/younger or the same age as us, singing about real <\/em>emotions. She wasn\u2019t just singing cliched love songs with recycled concepts and thrifted lyrics. She was experimental, she was alternative, she was new. <\/em>She was a rebel. She didn\u2019t care about swearing or censoring herself. She didn\u2019t care about setting her ex\u2019s bedroom on fire in her music videos. She didn\u2019t care about screaming her heart out on her songs. She didn\u2019t care about calling people out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we all ate it up. I even ran out and bought her CD within a month, joined her email list (which I\u2019m still on, it\u2019s cute), watched her virtual \u201cSour Prom\u201d with my mom, watched her documentary the night it came out with my parents, and got her transparent vinyl pre-ordered the minute it was available. I learned all her songs on guitar and piano, and sang them until her lyrics were engraved in my brain. She inspired my own songwriting\u2013and that is why she is so prominent. Because she\u2019s an inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many compare her past work to her new work and make claims about how she will never be able to write another perfect, no-skip album like that again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, SOUR is in her past. It was an album she wrote at the ages of 15-17, and she is now 20 years old. She\u2019s grown as a musician and person and there\u2019s nothing good about putting someone on a pedestal like that about their past, because I believe there\u2019s always room for improvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Vampire is the lead single of her highly-anticipated sophomore album, GUTS, which is set to be released on September 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s as much of an emotional rollercoaster as SOUR was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This song is another breakup song, and she compares her ex to being a vampire, sucking the love and life out of her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song starts in a major key, F, and has a tempo of 138 BPM. The track runs three minutes and 40 seconds (which is nice since the rest of her discography tends to be in the two minute range) and is in a time signature of four beats per measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrical Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Verse 1]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hate to give the satisfaction, asking how you\u2019re doing now<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u2019s the castle built off people you pretend to care about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the first two lines, you\u2019re already hooked. It\u2019s heart-wrenching, it\u2019s bold, and it\u2019s relatable. And the way she paints the picture of a castle being built off people who someone you know treats awfully? AH! It\u2019s so intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just what you wanted<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at you, cool guy, got it<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see the parties and the diamonds<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes when I close my eyes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t even with that last line. I love when a singer can just say something that totally describes how you\u2019re feeling, but you would\u2019ve never thought to put it that way, and how she describes torture as being sold as paradise. However, she says it\u2019s forbidden, probably meaning either the relationship was a secret or the way the other person expresses their feelings was a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved you truly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You gotta laugh at the stupidity<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love her for that. I want that on a shirt. It\u2019s such a diss, it\u2019s so cold\u2026 but it\u2019s so true. I\u2019m in awe. I\u2019m purely in awe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Chorus]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cause I\u2019ve made some real big mistakes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you make the worst look fine<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should\u2019ve known it was strange<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You only come out at night<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point of the song, her vocal delivery is not quite the breathy talk-singing she performed in the verse, it\u2019s a bit stronger, but it\u2019s also still sort of shaky, and you can tell she\u2019s really feeling every word she\u2019s saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to think I was smart<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you made me look so naive<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lyric like that is so interesting. It seems to be really simple and for someone not really reading too deeply into it, they don\u2019t think it has much meaning, but when you really think about it, especially if you\u2019ve lived it, it just sort of guts you. It\u2019s funny how you can feel super smart and conscious, but then the moment something\u2013like her breakup\u2013happens, you suddenly realize how naive you were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way you sold me for parts<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sunk your teeth into me, oh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These lines kill me. Yup, I think on my tombstone it\u2019ll say \u201cKilled by Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s lyrics.\u201d At this point of the song, she\u2019s belting them and reaching into a vocal range that I don’t know if we\u2019ve ever heard of any of her studio work. I\u2019ve heard her reach higher notes during live performances, but this really just proves her talent. I think this line I feel the most, and it\u2019s because she puts so much emotion behind it. It\u2019s almost as if you\u2019re standing there right next to her. And the line \u201cThe way you sold me for parts\u201d is just such a tragically beautiful phrase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blood sucker, fame f**ker<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bleeding me dry, like a goddamn vampire<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this line, she exposes her ex-lover as being a \u201cfamef**ker,\u201d someone who either dates celebrities for their fame and the benefits of having a connection to someone with such status, or just someone who dates someone purely for the attention. She then says, in almost a whisper-sob, \u201cbleeding me dry, like a goddamn vampire,\u201d telling the listeners that she was taken advantage of and she uses the term vampire as much as an insult as she does a literary device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next verse, a light percussion backs the piano ballad, making it almost sound brighter. But the lyrics don\u2019t get any brighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Verse 2]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And every girl I talked to told me you were bad bad news<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You called them crazy<\/em>
<\/em>God, I hate the way I called them crazy too<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this line she taps into the mind of a manipulator, someone who would gaslight her and make her believe that all the people around her, warning her about this \u201cvampire,\u201d were just crazy. Although, she comes at it from a very humble point of view in my opinion. She\u2019s admitting that she called them crazy too and she\u2019s repenting for that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re so convincing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you lie without flinching?<\/em>
<\/em>(How do you lie, how do you lie, how do you lie?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The background vocal harmonies of her own personal choir make this section so much more fulfilling, it almost is warming and it fills the background of the song in such a perfect way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, what a mesmerizing, paralyzing, f**ked up little thrill<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\u2019t figure out just how you do it and god knows I never will<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Went for me and not her<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cause girls your age know better<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t even begin. \u201cCause girls your age know better.\u201d It stings. She exposes that she was involved with someone older than her, and she admits that she wasn\u2019t mature enough to know better than get involved with them in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chorus repeats again, with more background vocal harmonies and the percussion becomes more prominent, with a real drum set and an anthemic beat. She sings the last two lines of the song with all the instrumentals stripped back except for the piano, and then you get thrown into the bridge of the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow, within two minutes and 30 seconds, this song has transformed from a piano ballad to all of a sudden a\u2026 pop rock song? Indie song? I can\u2019t quite put a genre on the bridge, but my point is that it\u2019s a whole other experience. It goes into a piercing, heartbeat of a drum pattern to a slowed down staccato with the bridge vocals overlapping it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Bridge]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You said it was true love, but wouldn\u2019t that be hard?<\/em>
<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, she\u2019s maybe referring to how one-sided the relationship was? Or maybe just how she dated a lazy person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t love anyone because that would mean you had a heart<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OLIVIA!! Come on! Seriously\u2026 I love that line though. It\u2019s interesting how some people can be so loving and how others, you question whether or not they do in fact have a heart. Her bluntness is one of her best qualities. If she held back and spared this person\u2019s feelings, it wouldn\u2019t be quite as good of a song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to help you out<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now I know I can\u2019t<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cause how you think is the kind of thing I\u2019ll never understand<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, there are people like that. When you realize that they are so far beyond your help, and part of that is your lacking in being able to understand their logic and thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then belts out the chorus again immediately after the bridge over the strong, indie rock instrumental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then after she says \u201cbleeding me dry, like a goddamn vampire\u201d for the last time, the instrumental goes so hard that there’s no way you can\u2019t say it\u2019s rock. It\u2019s giving grunge, alternative\u2026 all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that Olivia Rodrigo is a strong, empowered young woman and I can\u2019t wait to see what her future art is like. SOUR was a masterpiece and so was Vampire, and I think she has a lot of potential. Her songs have the tendency to get overplayed, but she is in no way overrated. She deserves all the fame and attention she\u2019s been getting. I can\u2019t wait for GUTS!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years after teen pop-rock singer-songwriter sensation Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album, SOUR, with no new music since, she finally gave fans the song that they have been waiting on the edge of their seats for. SOUR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,23],"tags":[69,75,73,74,68,71,72],"ppma_author":[33],"authors":[{"term_id":33,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mj","display_name":"MJ","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9527126ec4c26a19870254f2baaf61bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"MJ","last_name":"","user_url":"","description":"MJ (she\/her). Likes writing, reading, learning languages, and studying human behavior. Personality type: INTJ"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qyavoices.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}