Drivers License, Olivia Rodrigo's debut single, made headlines when it was released in January 2021 since it quickly broke a number of world records. It received the most Spotify streams in a single day ever (apart from holiday music) in just four days. It broke that record a day later. Her first public performance was at the Brit Awards, and was quickly followed by one on Saturday Night Live. It rocketed the young composer and then-Disney star to No. 1 across the globe.
It was an impressive rise, but maybe even more noteworthy is how Rodrigo, who was 18 when she first became famous, was able to transform that fame into a more enduring kind of career. She played smaller venues to give herself time to improve as a performer rather than launching straight into the enormo-domes she could easily fill. She avoided overextending herself by resisting requests to release an expanded version of her critically acclaimed debut album, Sour, in order to keep it as a memento of the early heartache that served as its inspiration.
Her media and public appearances were remarkably sparse in an era when celebrities are expected to be omnipresent online and boost their stature with deft PR moves. She spoke out against the repeal of Roe v. Wade at a well-timed Glastonbury set that won over Brits by bringing out Lily Allen, made the occasional guest live performance, made infrequent awards ceremony appearances, and walked the Met Gala red carpet in a sophisticated ensemble that demonstrated how she has progressed from her Though she still receives tabloid attention, she rarely makes news on her own.
The opening piano chords are quite powerful, Beatles-like. The room's buzz is still present, giving the impression that the young woman is alone herself at the keyboard and thinking. But as she recalls a romance with a plundering ex who put her through "six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise," they quickly engulf Rodrigo.
She recalls infractions after infraction as the piano gallops behind her and the song feels like it is about to take off as her vocal delivery veers from wistful rumination to angry crescendo. She has her way with a gut punch, and the pre-chorus has a dreamy lightheadedness to it that has fast become a Rodrigo trademark. She screams the insult as the music begins to fade, seething with rage: "Bloodsucker! fame fucker ! Bleeding me like a goddamn vampire!"
It only gets worse from there, with Rodrigo saying that this man was substantially older ("girls your age know better") and loathing herself for disobeying other women's warnings about him and siding with his description of them as "crazy". Imagine Fiona Apple singing a Dear John on a piano being towed by a runaway truck during the Tidal era. It is as wordy as a Gilmore Girls script, delivered with a spit and a stomp at a truly exhilarating, blazing tempo that culminates in a violent, bruised exorcism.
Depressingly, a large portion of the media coverage of Rodrigo's comeback will unavoidably focus on who it's about. To do so would be a disservice to her songwriting prowess. She sings, "I should have known it was strange you only come out at night... you sunk your teeth into me. Vampire is an elegantly executed conceit." It flips the stereotypical cliché of the female wealth digger and acknowledges Rodrigo's forever-changed status without sounding like a typical second-album whine about celebrity. It skewers a guy who is only there for "the parties and the diamonds" and mocks a guy who only cares about that.
Additionally, the piano-led arrangement deviates from current chart tendencies (saving the bridge from pop's dumper, for example), demonstrating that Rodrigo should continue to develop in this direction.
The women that Vampire introduces Rodrigo to are more significant than its topic. That line about the man labeling the women who are worried about Rodrigo insane is connected to Apple's 2020 song Newspaper ("I wonder what lies he's telling you about me / To make sure that we'll never be friends") musically as well as spiritually.
The exploitative age gap connects it to both Billie Eilish's 2021 single Your Power, her own second-album comeback, and Taylor Swift's 2010 single Dear John (and last year's Would've, Could've, Should've, thought to be about the same relationship). Eilish articulated this dichotomy to Vogue with great force: "It's so embarrassing and humiliating and demoralizing to be in that position of thinking you know so much and then you realize, I'm being abused right now. " Rodrigo criticizes her ex, but also herself for not knowing better ("I used to think I was smart / But you made me look so naive").
Vampire will also strike a powerful chord with a younger audience that is sensitive to power abuses. These interactions are still depressingly common in everyday life and the entertainment business even six years after the #MeToo movement. That must be the reason for the current trend in tasty revenge songs (which also connects Rodrigo's bloody retribution to SZA, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey): when actual justice is difficult to obtain, the fantasy of public humiliation in a hugely successful hit may be the best alternative. Rodrigo's scars are carried by the wonderful vampire as a reminder of what is at risk for young girls.
U are welcome
ReplyDeletePost a Comment