By Lillian Basso ‘29
On April 2nd, 2026, Olivia Rodrigo announced her new album “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.” As an Olivia Rodrigo fan since the show “High School Musical,” this is exciting news. The last time Olivia Rodrigo released a single or even an album aside from her newest era, was March 22nd, 2024, which was the album “Guts (Spilled).” As the album’s release date, June 12th, edges closer– Olivia Rodrigo doesn’t stop there.
The first official song teaser fans got was “Drop Dead,” the first track on the album. In this song, listeners gather that it’s about a blossoming relationship, describing how it felt to be crushing and obsessing over her now boyfriend before that official first date. Millions of fans went crazy when listening to it. I can recall when it first dropped, me and my friends loved it. Many people had different opinions on it, as one of my friends said it sounded country and the other stated it sounded like experimental pop.
The second song teaser that Olivia Rodrigo released was “The Cure” on May 22nd, 2026. This is track 8 on her new album– and it differentiates significantly from “Drop Dead.” This song captures the feeling of being insecure, with lyrics stating “head full of poison” and “toxins in my bloodstream,” meaning that the feeling consumes every inch of her body. The song also mentions the harsh reality of how no matter how hard the boy comforts and reassures her, his love will never be the cure for her painful insecurities.A rumor spiraling in the media is that Olivia Rodrigo named her song “The Cure” so that her ex boyfriend, Louis Partridge, would search his favorite band “The Cure,” and see that song pop up as a reminder of her. What do you think about this rumor? Do you believe it?
Olivia Rodrigo’s last era was “Guts (Spilled)”, which has some similarities to her newest era but also has major differences. “Guts” was released on September 3rd, 2023 and Guts (Spilled)” was released on March 22nd, 2024. The difference between those two albums is “Guts (Spilled) is an extended version of the original, with 5 tracks added on.
At the end of both of these releases, you see the album wrapped up with the song “So American”, which is known as her first joyful song. A lyric in the song states, “He laughs at all my jokes, and he says I’m so American!”. From this lyric can we conclude the song is about being in a honeymoon phase of a new relationship with a British partner, but the whole song recognizes the feeling of love.
Around late October of 2023, Olivia Rodrigo made her first public appearance with actor Louis Partridge where they were celebrating Halloween together in an affectionate manner. This appearance shocked fans. The song “So American” wasn’t just mattering at a distance– but speaking from the heart!
The romance rumor of Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge was confirmed around December of 2023, where a photographer captured a photo of them sharing a kiss in New York City. The public had already speculated “So American” was about a special someone; it was only a matter of time before who it was about was identified.
The question that the media is dying to know is: What happened? Just at the end of the Guts era Olivia was in love– now her newest era “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love”, is giving fans a different perspective. Olivia spoke so highly of Louis Partridge in “So American”, but now the album name teasers are more saddened and heartbroken.
Now that teasers have dropped of Olivia’s newest album, what do you think the album will be about? Is Olivia Rodrigo still in love, or is this album going to dwell on her own regrets in her past relationship(s)?