This past Friday, Olivia Rodrigo released her first album, SOUR, and I have not stopped listening to it since. It is by far my favorite album to have come out in 2021 and I can not wait to see what she does next. SOUR is definitely one of the more heartbreaking albums I have listened to, but that makes me love it even more. In this article I will be giving my honest opinion on each song, along with my favorite lyrics and giving a scale of how heart-wrenching each of them are. Fair warning – I am probably the least musically inclined person I know, so my opinions will be solely based on how the songs made me feel.

1. “brutal”

Rate: 7/10  Heartbreak Scale: 2/10 

Favorite Lyrics: “I’m anxious and nothing can help / And I wish I’d done this before / And I wish people liked me more.”

I am usually not a fan of pop-rock songs, but this song makes me feel like those cliche scenes in coming-of-age movies where the girl jumps around her room singing into a hairbrush. It’s that impactful. Rodrigo poured all of my feelings about being a teenager perfectly into this song, and it’s almost like she read my mind. If you are also an anxious and stressed teen, you would definitely like this song.

2. “traitor”

Rate: 100/10  Heartbreak Scale: 100,000,000,000/10

Favorite Lyric: “Loved you at your worst, but that didn’t matter.”

While I have never experienced any intense heartbreak, Rodrigo was so vulnerable and real with her lyrics in this song that it makes me feel like I am going through a breakup with her. “Traitor” is definitely in my top three for the album. As I have seen on Twitter and TikTok, this song is also one of the favorites amongst her fans.

3. “drivers license”

Rate: 5/10  Heartbreak Scale: 4/10

Favorite Lyrics: “Today, I drove through the suburbs / And pictured I was driving home to you.”

When this song came out in January, I was obsessed with it, much like every other teenage girl across the world. However, it has been overplayed so much on the radio and TikTok that I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to. I still feel that it is a beautifully written song, but it doesn’t invoke the same emotions in me that it did at the beginning of the year. This has to be my least favorite off the album, but only because of how overplayed it was. 

4. “1 step forward, 3 steps back”

Rate: 10/10  Heartbreak Scale: 9/10

Favorite Lyric: “I’m the love of your life until I make you mad.”

Much like “traitor,” this song makes me feel like I went through an extremely toxic relationship with her. Rodrigo even sampled Taylor Swift’s song “New Year’s Day,” which made this song hurt even more. I like that she included a piece of Swift in this album, especially knowing how much she means to Rodrigo. 

5. “deja vu”

Rate: 8/10 Heartbreak Scale: 3/10

Favorite Lyrics: “Now I bet you even tell her how you love her / In between the chorus and the verse (Ooh; I love you).”

Out of her three singles for this album, this is probably my favorite one. I love how this one wasn’t overplayed as much. I also love every lyric she included and how powerful the chorus is.  

6. “good 4 u”

Rate: 7/10  Heartbreak Scale: 2/10

Favorite Lyrics: “I guess that therapist I found for you, she really helped / Now you can be a better man for your brand new girl.”

Just like “brutal,” this pop-rock song makes me want to jump around my room and scream. This is my second favorite out of the three singles from SOUR. I love how powerful and angry her voice sounds in it.

7. “enough for you”

Rate: 1000/10  Heartbreak Scale: 100,000,000,000/10

Favorite Lyrics: “’Cause I thought you’d like me more / If I looked like the other prom queens / I know that you loved before.” 

I feel that Rodrigo perfectly conveyed feeling like you will never be enough for someone and trying to change everything about yourself to make them happy. I also love how versatile the song is, in that you can relate to it in many different ways. This too is one of my top songs off the album.

8. “happier”

Rate: 100/10  Heartbreak Scale: 100/10

Favorite Lyrics: “And now I’m pickin’ her apart / Like cuttin’ her down will make you miss my wretched heart.” 

I honestly don’t know what makes me love this song as much as I do. All I know is that I want concerts to come back just so I can scream this song amongst her and all of her fans. This is another one of my favorites of the album. 

9. “jealousy, jealousy”

Rate: 7/10  Heartbreak Scale: 0/10

Favorite Lyrics: “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.”

I am about to get attacked by all of the “Livies” on Twitter for saying that this is one of my least favorites off the album. While I can relate to this song a lot, it just doesn’t compare to “happier” or “favorite crime,” in my opinion. I will admit that it has grown on me the more I listen to it, so there is a chance it will get bumped up in my ranking.

10. “favorite crime”

Rate: 100,000,000/10  Heartbreak Scale: 8/10

Favorite Lyrics: “One heart broke, four hands bloody” and “But I say that I hate you with a smile on my face.”

This is my all-time favorite off the album. Every single lyric is flawless and the harmonies fit so well. Everything about this song is perfect. No matter how many times I listen to the album, this song stays at number one.

11. “hope ur ok”

Rate: 100/10 Heartbreak Scale: ∞/10

Favorite Lyrics: “Does she know how proud I am she was created / With the courage to unlearn all of their hatred?”

This is the most heartbreaking song on the album, in my opinion. It was the only song I cried to while I listened to it for the first time. It is one of the more quiet songs on the album, but it has such a powerful message to it. I highly recommend listening to it if you haven’t already.

This album is definitely going to win a lot of awards next year and I hope Olivia Rodrigo gets all of the recognition she deserves. The fact that I loved her debut album this much, makes me very excited to see what she does in the future. I hope you enjoyed the album as much as I did! 

Sophomore Isabella Rowan is a staff writer for the 2020-2021 Colonel. In her free time, she likes to play tennis, paint, and bake. You will probably find her listening to Harry Styles or watching movies with her dog, Dublin.