Popstar Olivia Rodrigo has returned with a new love anthem, drop dead. Released on April 17, the single blazes a different path from her previous works, 2021’s Sour and 2023’s Guts.
The 23-year-old launched her career as a Disney star before transitioning to being a pop-rock sensation in 2021.
Rodrigo’s songwriting is known for being emotive, intense and sensitive but the new single feels more refreshing and romantic than her previous works.
In Sour, Rodrigo expressed her fear and anxiety of being a teenager and the mess in those years. Guts is more rock-oriented, with themes of bad breakups, the fear of growing up and terrible friendships.
Drop dead is more experimental, which makes everything for her upcoming album—You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love—so unique. That project is scheduled to be released in June.
Rodrigo’s songs have always committed to expressing her insecurities and fears. When listening to her it feels she can read your mind and she knows how you feel.
Not all singers can achieve that level of connectedness. That makes her one of the greatest songwriters of her generation.
Even though Rodrigo claims she wrote drop dead after a perfect date, the song has several hints that reference her previous relationship with British actor Louis Partridge.
Lines like “looking like an angel on the walls of Versailles” are subtle hints, as historically, these walls were made by King Louis XIV, who shares the actor’s name.
Later on the bridge, she sings; “pisces and a gemini, but I think we might go really nice together.” Rodrigo’s zodiac sign is pisces and Partridge is a gemini.
Like her previous album-opening singles such as drivers license in 2021 and vampire in 2023, drop dead debuted at No. 1 on Spotify with about 9.79 million opening-day streams.
The music video for drop dead was filmed in the Palace of Versailles in France. Rodrigo plays a modern Marie Antoinette, using retro pink headphones and dancing around happily, dreaming of a future lover.
Petra Collins directed the video, marking her fifth collaboration with Rodrigo. They previously worked on brutal, good 4 u, bad idea right? and vampire.
Collins’ 90s dreamy aesthetic and nostalgic videos align with Rodrigo’s ideas of feminine visual word, gen-z elements and female rage. Sofia Coppola’s film Maria Antoinette was also a major inspiration for the video.
The rush, the insensitivity of falling love and the perfect first date with her ideal match is what makes drop dead a perfect song for falling in love over and over and over again.
Fans can expect that Rodrigo’s new album will have themes of sadness, the fear of losing oneself while in love but also the excitement of the idea of falling in love with the right person.
