10 Best Olivia Rodrigo Songs (by a tween and her dad)

My 11-year-old daughter is obsessed with Olivia Rodrigo. She’s been her favourite pop artist for three years. She’s helped me write this article – we voted for ten songs each, and she helped write the blurbs. Her 2023 single ‘Bad Idea, Right?’ was ineligible – I think it’s a bit much for an 11-year-old, so it’s currently banned.

Rodrigo’s multi-talented. She combines confessional songwriting with strong vocal chops, while her sonic palette ranges from 1990s-alt-style rockers to piano ballads. She’s fortunate to work with Dan Nigro, a producer who’s also done sterling work with Chappell Roan and Carly Rae Jepsen.

She’s recently released You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, her most well-rounded and consistent album yet. How do the songs stack up compared with her previous records?

#10

Expectations

from You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, 2026

Don’t think my future husband’s at this bar in Silver Lake

You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love is a concept album, chronicling the trajectory of a relationship. It starts with the swooning ‘Drop Dead’ and ends with the contemplation of ‘Cigarette Smoke’. ‘Expectations’, the penultimate track, is a key part of the story. It mixes hope and trepidation at the thought of dating again. Completing the loop, it references the same album’s ‘The Cure’, pointedly using the words “procure” and “secure”.

My Way

from You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, 2026

Maybe I’m a petty bitch, but you made me resort to this

Much of You Seem So Sad… analyses Rodrigo’s relationship with actor Louis Partridge. But ‘My Way’ goes on a tangent with Rodrigo jealously guarding her lover, perhaps against an interfering ex. She’s accompanied by new-wave backing – the synths could have come from a Cars record.

Pretty Isn’t Pretty

from Guts, 2023

It’s on the poster on the wall, it’s in the shitty magazines
It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed

On Pretty Isn’t Pretty, Rodrigo laments a culture with impossible beauty standards. The bass-driven, indie sound recalls The Cure’s 1980s sound. It’s full of terrific, incisive lyrics – a gorgeous young starlet wondering if she’s attractive enough is weirdly relatable.

Driver’s License

from Sour, 2021

Red lights, stop signs
I still see your face in the white cars, front yards

Rodrigo had instant success as a solo artist. ‘Driver’s License’, her debut single, topped charts all over the world. It’s an unvarnished piano ballad, but Rodrigo’s tale of heartbreak clearly connected with people. She later told Uproxx that “There’s nothing like sitting at the piano in my bedroom and writing a really sad song. It’s truly my favorite thing in the world.”

Deja Vu

from Sour, 2021

She thinks it’s special
But it’s all reused

Rodrigo followed ‘Driver’s License’ with another huge hit. Rodrigo became the first artist to debut their first two singles in Billboard’s top 10. It topped the charts for seven weeks in New Zealand – impressive for a song that Rodrigo and Nigro wrote in a day. She references Billy Joel in the song – she later performed ‘Deja Vu’ and ‘Uptown Girl’ with Joel at Madison Square Garden.

Get Him Back!

from Guts, 2025

I met a guy in the summer and I left him in the spring
He argued with me about everything

Rodrigo and Nigro tried to write ‘Get Him Back!’ with two chords, landing at three. It’s full of puns – in the title, “get him back” is a desire for revenge and for reconciliation.

Rodrigo later confessed that she toned down the lyrics. An earlier version of the song read “So I write him all these letters, and I throw them in the trash / ‘Cause I miss the way he kisses and the way he grabbed my ass.”

Good 4 U

from Sour, 2021

Well, screw that and screw you
You will never have to hurt the way you know that I do

Rodrigo’s third single was another smash. A snarling, accusatory breakup song, it topped the charts all over the world. Sour became the first debut album in history with two songs debuting at number one on the Billboard 100. It’s out of step with the times, a guitar-driven rock song in an era of trap and R&B.

Vampire

from Guts, 2023

I used to think I was smart
But you made me look so naïve

Rodrigo launched the cycle for her second album with ‘Vampire’. She’s a theatre kid, having launched to fame via High School Musical. Those tendencies are showcased in ‘Vampire’ – it’s not far from a Jim Steinman epic, based around the piano and building to a grand conclusion. Rodrigo accuses a former lover of misdeeds, singing that “You can’t love anyone, ’cause that would mean you had a heart.”

The Cure

from You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, 2026

But my head is full of poison, and my heart is full of doubt
I got toxins in my bloodstream, you tried hard to suck ’em out

Even though You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love is a breakup album, there’s little vitriol aimed at Louis Partridge. Instead, Rodrigo points the mirror at herself, most notably on ‘The Cure’, where she sings about how her “heart is full of doubt”.

The Cure is a recurring theme on You Seem So Sad. As well as the references in ‘Expectations’ (see #10 on this list), she enlists The Cure’s Robert Smith, who duets with Rodrigo on ‘What’s Wrong with Me’.

Stupid song

from You Seem So Sad For A Girl So In Love, 2026

I’m a heart made of wax and I’m melting in the sun

Rodrigo was inspired to write ‘Stupid Song’ after reading Annie Ernaux’s 1992 novel Simple Passion. It’s about how love makes you insane and miserable. It builds from a piano ballad to a pulsing bridge with terrific multi-tracked vocals – my tween’s favourite part.