After being a long-time Olivia Rodrigo fan, I’ve seen her at every era, and I have a lot of thoughts on her new album. So this is the ultimate review of You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love from someone with absolutely zero musical background.

I’d like to preface this by saying that  I generally prefer some of her more guitar-heavy songs, think Brutal, So American, and Ballad of a Homeschool Girl, as opposed to the slower, sadder ones. That’s what made ranking this album really hard because it has both really happy songs and also extremely sad ones. Comparing them is like apples and oranges. I think it’s really unique in that way, though, because Olivia can capture a wide range and time frame of emotions in 50-minutes really well. 

This is every song ranked from best to worst!

1. “Expectations” – perfect in every way. It does not get the love it deserves.
2. “Drop Dead” – I really like the energy of this song. The only critique is I think the part of the chorus from “one night I was bored in bed” to “it’s feminine intuition” is a weird tone shift from the rest of the song, especially in the middle of the song when the high energy is already established.
3. “U + Me = <3” – I know it’s a love song, but to me it could be really applicable to friendship.
4. “Less” – The song backing being just piano is perfect.
5. “Stupid Song” – Despite what I will say about some other songs, I actually like the slow part at the start; it builds really well. 
6. “Maggots for Brains” – Another song with a fun beat. Not my favorite, but that might be because I’ve heard it too many times online.
7. “My Way” – High-energy song that is really fun to sing along to. I will say the transition to “so where’d you get the confidence from” is really sudden.
8. “Purple” – It’s cute; it’s a different tone from the other songs but not in a bad way. It has the vibe of wandering through the world where things keep going right for you. The song was an acquired taste, and I liked it more after a couple of listens.
9. “Cigarette Smoke” – I know this is a widely loved song, and I do like it, but it’s so low because of its position on the album after Expectation. I always forget about it.
10. “What’s Wrong with Me” – Genuinely get Robert Smith out of here.
11. “The Cure” – I debated its ranking for a while for this song, but I really like the tone; I like the part where she said, “why can’t you come stitch me up.”
12. “Honeybee” – It’s not my cup of tea personally, and I do cringe a little at the “baby boy, honeybee” part, but I think it’s good at what it’s trying to be. It reminded me of a fairytale with the background vocals, violin, and piano.
13. “Begged” – Not a song I was ever drawn to listen to in particular.

I can really see Olivia’s development in style over her 3 albums, and it really feels like we’re growing up with her. I’m always skeptical when big artists drop new albums, but this one did not disappoint!