This one’s for those of us who had to get through bad high-school breakups with only the twang of Taylor Swift’s early lyrics to survive. Our only hope for the future, Olivia Rodrigo, took notes and has supplied the angsty, insecure, unsure but unstoppable album we needed with Sour, her debut album. Sure, the 18-year-old High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star went through her high-school heartbreak from the set of a Disney show, but the universal experience of moving on from a fuckboy transcends demographic. (Plus, her confessional lyrics spill the goss between her and her co-star Joshua Bassett that they can’t say out loud. It’s service, really.) If this were 2013, black-and-white edits of Olivia Rodrigo’s lyrics would be filling tumblr blogs and Pinterest boards right now. Below, we’ve covered all possible Instagram caption and subtweet needs — including you, Miss Rodrigo. Don’t let that boy forget what he did.
“brutal”
“And I’m so sick of 17 / Where’s my fuckin’ teenage dream? / If someone tells me one more time / ‘Enjoy your youth,’ I’m gonna cry.”
Congratulations to everyone turning 18 this year. Your Instagram caption just wrote itself.
“traitor”
“Ain’t it funny, remember I brought her up / And you told me I was paranoid?”
“Gaslighter, denier / Doin’ anything to get your ass farther”
“It took you two weeks to go off and date her / Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor.”
If it wouldn’t wreck him to lose you …
“drivers license”
“I got my driver’s license last week / Just like we always talked about / ‘Cause you were so excited for me / To finally drive up to your house / But today I drove through the suburbs / Crying ‘cause you weren’t around.”
Rodrigo famously had her first driving lesson with Bassett, combining two teenage milestones: heartbreak and taking the wheel. Her newfound independence is colored with loneliness.
“And I just can’t imagine / How you could be so okay now that I’m gone / Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me.”
From indie boys to rappers, they are always writing bars they cannot back up!
“deja vu”
“Car rides to Malibu / Strawberry ice cream, one spoon for two.”
“I bet she’s braggin’ to all her friends, sayin’ you’re so unique.”
Rodrigo points out all the traditions he’s repeating, even those that are specific to her, like loving strawberry ice cream. (Early paparazzi photos showed Bassett and Carpenter driving around Malibu, if you missed the reference.) She doesn’t just question his authenticity, she fully rejects it. You know that hurts.
“good 4 u”
“And good for you, I guess that you’ve been workin’ on yourself / I guess that therapist I found for you, she really helped / Now you can be a better man for your brand new girl.”
The fact that generations of women are owed payment for services rendered.
“Screw you.”
Honestly, more evocative than its explicit cousin.
“You’re doin’ great out there without me, baby / Like a damn sociopath.”
Even sociopaths can pretend to care!
“enough for you”
“Tried so hard to be everything that you like / Just for you to say you’re not the compliment type.”
*primal scream so loud my past self can hear it and take caution*
“I read all of your self-help books / So you’d think that I was smart / Stupid, emotional, obsessive little me.”
Ah, self-help book guy, a timeless foe. In an interview with EW, Joshua Bassett himself cites The Art of the Idea, This Thing Called You, and The Untethered Soul as “game changers.” And yet.
“happier”
“We broke up a month ago / Your friends are mine, you know, I know / You’ve moved on, found someone new.”
Whether they’re college friends or AP English classmates, breakups get that much more fraught when you share a friend group.
“hope ur ok”
“We don’t talk much, but I just gotta say / I miss you, and I hope that you’re okay.”
For the friends who got you through and those who are still getting you through. We see you.
