If you’re feeling sour about love, you’re not alone. In 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released her Grammy Award-winning breakup album, Sour, featuring “Favorite Crime,” “Traitor,” “Drivers License,” and other songs to get you nostalgic this Valentine’s Day. Here are a few of our favorites.
‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back’
Relationships have their ups and downs. In “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” the narrator described the dichotomy of being the love of someone’s life, but only until she “made them mad.” Did they love her, want her, or hate her? Who knows? Who can understand?
“Called you on the phone today,” Rodrigo sings. “Just to ask you how you were / All I did was speak normally / Somehow I still struck a nerve.”
‘Traitor’
With one person starting a relationship shortly after, “Traitor” explores the idea of feeling cheated — without being cheated on. In the chorus, Rodrigo states, “It took you two weeks / To go off and date her / Guess you didn’t cheat / But you’re still a traitor.”
In a pretty clear parallel to her relationship with Joshua Bassett, Rodrigo’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast member began dating Sabrina Carpenter shortly after the breakup.
‘Favorite Crime’
Break out the tissues. As noted on Genius, in this song, the narrator recognizes how toxic her relationship was — and that she’s partly responsible for its longevity. As a turning point in the album, Rodrigo begins to move on, wishing that she would be her ex-partner’s “Favorite Crime.”
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“It’s bittersweet to think about the damage that we do,” the bridge states. “’Cause I was going down, but I was doing it with you / Yeah, everything we broke, and all the trouble that we made / But I say that I hate you with a smile on my face / Oh, look what we became.”
‘Good 4 U’
Getting over a breakup isn’t easy — but being a chart-topping songwriter does help. In the “Good 4 U” music video, Rodrigo let everything go up in flames — literally. Dressed in a cheerleader outfit, the actor snagged gasoline (and some Smartfood popcorn, of course,) from a grocery store.
The lyrics share a similar indignant attitude toward the narrator’s past relationship. They moved on really easily. That’s good for them.
‘Drivers License’
Even if you’re not 17 years old with a brand-new driver’s license, this song truly captures the feeling of driving through your hometown, wondering what could’ve been. Sigh.
“I got my driver’s license last week,” Rodrigo sings. “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 / Cryin’ ’cause you weren’t around.”
As one of the most popular Sour songs, “Drivers License” was also one of Rodrigo’s first originals (outside of her work with Disney) released on most major streaming platforms.
