Olivia Rodrigo breaks down “emo” lyrics in ‘Lacy’ and ‘All-American Bitch’
Olivia Rodrigo has discussed the inspiration behind some of the “emo” lyrics in her recent songs ‘Lacy’ and ‘All-American Bitch’.
Both tracks appear on the singer’s recent second album ‘Guts‘, which was released in September.
Speaking on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Rodrigo gave insight into how she conceived the lyrics for the outro of ‘Lacy’ – “And I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you / Yeah, I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you.”
“Very emo of me, writing that,” Rodrigo told Clarkson, laughing. “I took a poetry class at USC,” she continued. “I wrote a poem called ‘Lacy’ for one of the assignments, and I really liked it. I’m like, ‘I’m gonna turn it into a song!’”
Fans have speculated that Lacy could be a number of public figures, including Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams or Sabrina Carpenter. However, Rodrigo has refrained from ever revealing the subjects of her songs, telling the Los Angeles Times earlier this month that she enjoys when fans craft “more creative answers to who Lacy is,” such as her past self.
“I just think it’s not classy to come out and say it’s about this person,” she added at the time. “I also think that would set a weird precedent where I’d have to clear the air with every song I write.”
Meanwhile, on the subject of ‘All-American Bitch’, Rodrigo explained the meaning of its opening lines “I am light as a feather, I’m as stiff as a board.”
“I always thought it was a really interesting phrase, I’ve been meaning to fit it into a song for a long time,” Rodrigo said. “[The game] seems kind of impossible. So I thought it was a good way to describe the impossible standards that are set for us as women.”
NME praised ‘GUTS’ in a five-star review, saying: “In the orbit of her urgent and riotous second album, the 20-year-old turns her own vulnerabilities into a rallying cry: here, she’s a songwriter of control, diving headfirst into the collective female experience while also pursuing adventure, desire and relief.”
The album also landed in the number two spot of our Best 50 Albums of 2023 – see the full list here.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
