Sour Analysis- "Jealousy, Jealousy"

I LIVE for these discussions with you guys! Y'all help me see things in so many different ways, and I think we all end up with a deeper understanding in the end ❤❤❤

English Teacher KP

This is why I love this little corner, I’m always learning new things! Like you said in the video, many things can be simultaneously true

Iolita Kovatchki

I'm excited (and a little scared, tbh) for "Hope Ur Ok"! Also, I can not imagine what it must be like to grow up with so much social media. We had MySpace...which was bad enough...but I can't even fathom what it must be like for teens growing up with Instagram!

English Teacher KP

Ugh I love Jealousy, Jealousy. I'm so lucky I didn't have social media growing up, but I think about celebrities like Billie Eilish and Olivia who literally grew up with all these pressures and their own online persona. I feel like this song just speaks to the very human aspect of that. It's something people really don't talk about, but social media can mess with you. Especially when you're not in a good mental state. SOOO ready for Hope Ur Ok! Ima cry too hahaha

Camila Dejesus

I can totally see this, and I agree with you both to a certain extent! For me, it's a very layered song. On one hand, yes, the speaker is being general. She wishes she had what others have...especially those she sees on social media. The speaker has mentioned her insecurities throughout the album...they seem to revolve around not being pretty enough or popular enough or successful enough. These insecurities are only exacerbated by the breakup. This is where it feels very specific to me. While she does use plural nouns and pronouns throughout the song, the usage of pronouns in the bridge seem singular to me. And I think this is significant. It's not just the fact that our speaker feels like she's not good enough by society's standards or as pretty as the Instagram models...but now, because of everything we've learned throughout the album, her jealousy also latches on to a very specific person who has triggered her insecurities even more.

English Teacher KP

Thank you! I don't like the way the cursive looks there! The crossing of the "T" is far too aggressive 😂😂😂

English Teacher KP

Amanda- I think you make some great points regarding social media, though! I love the idea that the personified version of jealousy is somehow following the speaker on Instagram. I agree that this does make me consider how much social media influences our idea of perfection and beauty standards!

English Teacher KP

I hope so!

English Teacher KP

I totally see where you are coming from! I personally think it's a little bit of both! The "kids" obviously refer to more than one person. However, the "you" in the bridge seems very personal and a little more specific to me! That being said, Leigette, I do agree that the lessons here...(even the theme "Your win is not my loss" )...are very difficult ones for people of any age!

English Teacher KP

Agree, I never thought of this song as being about the breakup at all. Seems like the “you” she is speaking to can be anyone she is seeing on socials and comparing her real life to their curated one. Very smart critique of social media culture from someone very much still part of that culture. I am sure there are plenty of people who have been following Olivia on socials for a long time and feeling jealous of what her life looks like on their phone - and maybe even wanting to throw it across the room. I find her very impressive to be grappling with believing that someone else getting something she doesn’t have is not necessarily the same as something being taken away from her. Lots of much older people I know still have never learned that lesson, and it can make a person very bitter and unkind.

Leijette Riopel

I think you're going to like Hope Ur Ok. :)

I see this song as one of 3 that has nothing to do with the breakup. Jealousy Jealousy, Brutal, and Hope that Ur OK don't really follow the theme of the rest of the songs, but that makes it feel refreshing to me. This song, in my opinion, is 100% about the "perfect curated lives" that people present on social media. The opening line is "I kinda wanna throw my phone across the room cuz all I see are girls too good to be true". I don't think it's about any one specific person, but instead about the experience of being a teenager on social media seeing "paper white teeth, perfect bodies, cool vintage clothes, vacation photos, cool friends, daddy's car, pretty faces and their pretty boyfriends". It makes having anything less than that feel like a flaw. The thing that cements my interpretation is the "Jealousy started following me", just like you would follow influencers on Insta (just like you mentioned!). I cannot wait for Manic! I cheered out loud when I heard it was next!

Amanda M.

This song is SO relatable! And the sound is killer. The lyric you had trouble reading was "I know it's true".

Sarah Metzger

I came here to say this but you beat me to it 🤭 I completely agree, I’ve always associated those lyrics the same way as you! Also the me-hee-hee reminds me of Taylor’s ME! ☺️

Iolita Kovatchki

This is my personal favorite, I’ve been waiting for it the whole time. hope ur ok is also in my top 5 so these last couple of videos are a special treat! It’s definitely a tearjerker. Also, I think that the “you” Olivia uses in the bridge is second person plural. I kind of see it as her shouting at her phone screen to every single girl she sees on Instagram living a good life. She uses other plural pronouns like “think I think too much about (kids) who don’t know me” and “(their) win is not my loss” throughout the song, and I personally interpret it as her just feeling like the odd one out, ugly duckling, black sheep of it all!

Edward Ramirez