Olivia Rodrigo Changed Her New Album After Her Rumored Split

The album centers on a love story that ends in ruins, with tracks reflecting real-life events. The songs are organized into two sides, “girl so in love” and “you seem pretty sad,” and follow a mostly chronological order. Rodrigo said she writes songs to process what she feels, using time at the piano and in the studio to identify what is burning inside her to express. She described changing her initial vision as a wave of sadness grew, leading to more breakup material than planned. She also said she wanted to explore more depressing feelings within love songs, and that sadness eventually became a fuller presence in the record.

"“For the most part, it is chronological and in the order in which it happened in my life and it's the first time that's happened,” she remarked. “I write songs to process my feelings, so every day when I come and I sit at the piano or I go to the studio, it's like, 'What is burning in me to say right now?'”"

"“I was always kind of curious about trying to mine these more depressing feelings out of these love songs,” she said. “I think initially, I thought that was what the record was going to be, just all love songs but trying to inject some sadness into them. And then obviously sadness in a real or more whole way crept its way into the end.”"

"“As someone who was very known for writing breakup songs and being angry and sad, I wanted to prove to myself that I didn't have to be miserable to write a song that I liked,” she said."

"Hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli revealed that Rodrigo's new album follows the narrative of a love story that ends in ruins. True to form, Rodrigo didn't confirm her split from Louis Partridge, which has been rumored since December. However, she did say the tracklist reflected her real life, being separated into two sides: “girl so in love” and “you seem pretty sad.”"

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