You promised yourself you wouldn’t see them again…
We all have those silly stories we recall with both a sense of shame and glee, reliving those rash decisions we made for the plotline, covering our reddening faces as our friends re-enact some embarrassing stunt we pulled off last Saturday night.Olivia Rodrigo’s second single from her upcoming album Guts Bad Idea Right’ explores the narrative, offering a comedic take on a familiar conundrum.
We eavesdrop on the narrator’s internal monologue as she navigates the intertwining halls of temptation and humiliation, pride and shame. We all know where she’s going to go, as she ‘unintentionally’ gets lost down the rabbit hole of lust, desire and regret, all sympathetically rolling our eyes when she lies unconvincingly pleading that she simply ‘tripped and fell into his bed’.
Bad Idea Right is like reading the girls group chat on a messy night out. Your friends are convincing you that you’re ex is awful, that you’re worth more but you’ve had a wine,a woo woo and a vodka shot or two and it’s only a text, it’s only a taxi it’s only a stumble to his bed, besides you’re just doing what sober you is too proud to do. You’ve been there before so what’s once more?
This internal battle whether to keep your head held high, after all you know your friends are right, or to give in to temptation, you wan them back but it’s not even really like that it’s just a filler, someone to do whilst you wait for true love, being in that bed is as simple as shoulder shrug.Rodrigo is infectious, voicing all the times we’ve given in, falling asleep in the right bed to waking up in the wrong one, the realisation of what we’ve done.
Her debut album Sour explored heartbreak, self worth and identiy whilst her new album, Guts set for release September 8th, seems to be about rebelliousness, self exploration and hedonism in the face of adversity. Self destructive tendencies have the propensity to come disguised as empowerment, especially after a drink, or in a moment of darkness they come heralding a candlelight of serenity that soon turns out to be a burning beacon, setting yourself on fire.
You have a word with yourself in the bathroom mirror of a house party, you laugh as you see their name flash upon your phone, an echo of old times, memories of strawberry ice cream and Billy Joel, but that’s all it is a figure of what once was they can only wave at you, you can never wave back, you can never go back, you can return to their arms, to their sheets but they will be different, as are you, so if you do stumble back there don’t think you’ll be staying.
Nostalgic yet refreshing, this song is evocative of naughties pop, musical remnants of Lindsay Lohan’s Drama Queen with a bite of Avril Lavigne’s attitude, Rodrigo has created a sound that is cheeky and blameless, mischievously shameless, perhaps not the ear worm that Drivers License and Good 4 You still are but an insight into a new era this perceptive, singer songwriter star is entering.
Please drink responsibly and legally.
Evolve Music 