Sour Analysis- "Brutal"

I feel the "I love people I don't like" could also be a nod to celebrities and instagram influencers who have done wrongs or shown themselves to be bad people bit you still love them and follow them even if you don't like who they are and how they act, always interpreted this way because of "jealousy, jealousy" in which she basically talks abut influencers and internet.

Thank you so much! I am definitely still torn regarding the meaning of that line! I really like it, though! This song definitely impressed me!

English Teacher KP

Great analysis! Think the second interpretation of the “die before I drink” line that you mentioned in the description is brilliant. I lean toward the first interpretation - basically, being a teenager is difficult and suffocating, so I’m not sure I’ll make it out of my teenage years (soon after which one can drink) alive (presumably “alive” in a figurative sense or suggesting she might not be able to withstand the industry’s magnified scrutiny) - but the second interpretation is a smart one too and one I didn’t even consider before this. Thanks!

John

That's a great scene!

English Teacher KP

This makes total sense!

English Teacher KP

Ohh, I really like brutal, it's one of the few songs I can really relate to on the album, as someone who was a teenager not too long ago. I've always interpreted the first line as a more of a metaphorical "death". Like, maybe she won't handle it and be out of the spotlight by 21, or maybe her mental health will "die" before 21. That being said, it also very much feels like a nod to how when you're a teenager, everything feels so big and important; everything is life or death. I've also mostly thought about the "I love people I don't like" as maybe her trying really hard to love people and be "in" with people that she doesn't actually like, but who she feels like she has to love because of social status or proximity. Lately, however, I've been thinking about the scene from Lady Bird (2017) where Lady Bird says she wishes her mom liked her, and her mom replies that of course she loves her, and Lady Bird asks her "yeah, but do you like me?". Don't know if it's an allusion, but it does remind me of that scene. Very excited for the rest of the album!

Ida Bergh-Smith

When I hear the line: "I love people, I don't like" I always think about people I tried to impress for some reasons, maybe because they are popular and so u're kinda automatically nice to them (even if u don't like them or how u act around them) like in a typical American high school movie with where everyone is nice to the mean-cool-girls. Even thou they are super rude all the time. And yeah, somethimes I think i like people and when i get home i'm like "they are weird and why am i trying to impress them". i hope that makes sense.😂

Thank you for letting me know what she was saying there at the end! I couldn't make it out over the music. We love a sarcastic moment!

English Teacher KP

I used to be a huge Avril fan as well! And I'm right there with you-- as a 31 year old, I can totally relate to this song still!

English Teacher KP

Yes! The usage of the word here is pure DRAMA, and I love it ❤❤❤

English Teacher KP

I'm so glad! Thank you for watching!

English Teacher KP

Interesting! I don't even remember that, but I am intrigued all over again! Thank you!

English Teacher KP

I just love that she's such a Taylor fan! And thank you for helping me with that first line. I couldn't make it out over the music, but I really like it!

English Teacher KP

It took me back, too! Loved it!

English Teacher KP

I'm so glad you liked it! I voted for Sour because I just knew you would love it! This song takes me right back to my teen years... going back quite a few for me!

Emily Bradley

I always really loved the first first line before the song properly begins being "I want it to be, like, messy" because there's so many different things it could mean. It works in the context of this song because of the shade she throws other people like Disney or her ex--the person I think she was talking about when she said "who likes me and who hates you" because their break up was all over the news when her album was being released because everyone involved is a celebrity--or even the people she "loves" but doesn't "like" which could be called "messy." It also works with the rest of the album with a majority of the songs going into her heartbreak and the things that happened and the things that both she and her ex did that weren't so great, like with the song Favorite Crime. The whole album in that way could be called "messy" because it's angsty and emotional and puts on blast the not so nice parts of the relationship. It's such a good opener! P.S. I wasn't sure if anyone had mentioned it yet or if you already knew any of this but Olivia Rodrigo was really open when the album debuted about how much of a huge Taylor Swift fan she is. The song 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back is interpolated from one of Taylor Swift's older songs. I don't know a lot about interpolating other than it's different from sampling, but still kind of similar? I think it means the notes don't exactly match up but the sound is very similar, but that could be wrong. People thought it was done that way to avoid having to pay Scott Borschetta copyright because Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff were still listed as writers on the song. Also it's assumed the song being interpolated from one of Taylor Swift's is the reason the lyric is three steps back instead of two steps back.

Poorly Fleshed Skeleton

In the very beginning, before it gets to the guitar she says, "I want it to be, like, messy" and then the guitar kicks in. So fun! Then at the end, before it gets slow again she says, " Just having a really good time". This is verbal irony to me because I can hear sarcasm in her voice. She also just told us how "brutal" it is out "here". I think it is great symbolism for how it can feel to be a teenager. It can feel like a roller coaster of emotions: slow, then fast, then slow again. When you're young it can seem cool to be "messy", but it usually leads to not "having a really good time" haha. We've all been there.

Gabrielle Tecklenburg

I was very late to the Olivia Rodrigo show. I listened to this album for the first time about a month ago and was very impressed. I love how direct her songs especially compared Taylor Swift, who is more poetic and metaphorical. I appreciate both, just comparing!! Olivia gives me Avril Lavigne vibes, whom she also lists as one of her influences, and of whom I was and still am a fan. I'll date myself in this comment, but, hey, no shame in the game. I relate to this song and not just about being a teenager. I felt the line "God, it's brutal out here" as a 40-year-old. So as much as I like this song, it does make me feel old. LOL! I was here for the angst, 100%. I do love how the song slows at the end, and the last few lines can either be just an emotional end to the diary entry OR the lead-in to the rest of the album. Can't wait for the rest of your Sour analyses.

Sarah Metzger

I absolutely love the drama of the word “unrelentlessly” and how well it fits into the whole teenage angst theme she does with the sour album.

Camryn

I loved the analysis as always btw

During the Favorite crime analysis I remember how you pointed out the lack of pronouns compared to the focus on 'I' here. She says 'know that I loved you' and 'used me as an alibi' so that's definitely something to think about when we get to that song.

This! 100%!

English Teacher KP

I absolutely relate to the middle/high school friends part, and thats how I always interpreted that line

Iolita Kovatchki

I absolutely LOVE this song as an opener! It perfectly encapsulates how she's feeling going into the album, and yes, it is diary-entry level autobiographical! Personally, I've always loved the line "cuz I love people I don't like" cause when i was in middle & high school my "best friends" treated me horribly, but I still loved them. Even in my first relationship I "loved" this person looking back I had nothing in common with and didn't even like. As you get older you realize how important it is to LIKE the people you let into your life, but when I was younger I valued those people being close more than being nice.

Camila Dejesus