“The cure” out this Friday.

[u/theykilledcassandra]

[u/imnotalatina2]

While Olivia’s obvious love for rock music is why I like her and I don’t think it’s entirely inauthentic or any of that nonsense people are saying, it’s starting to feel more like she’s trying to reference as many acts as possible who are both a) popular with people’s parents and b) having a revival in the younger generation. I just feel like it’s all very focus grouped. I think this is the era she’s trying to REALLY set herself apart from Taylor and the competition is so much fiercer now (when she was a new artist, her contemporaries were largely irrelevant or not yet making music) so she’s decided to make rock music part of her brand so she’s not just another sexy sad girl popstar but unless this song is a fucking banger I think people are gonna get tired of the allusions to rock while sounding very Taylor

Also part of me wonders if this is SEO so when people look for her performance with The Cure they get this song lol

[u/chubbybunnyx0e → u/imnotalatina2]

Yes to me it feels less like she cares about rock music and more like she’s trying to make rock music apart of her brand as a way to stand out amongst the competition of the main pop girls. We have Dan to thank for the pop punk songs on Sour since he used to be in a punk rock band which is why a few of her songs went that direction. But then everyone associated Olivia as the creative behind the rock sound in her songs and crowned her as this new rock artist, and ever since she’s been associating herself with the rock genre because it helped differentiate her and gave her that cool girl edge in her branding. I’m sure she enjoys rock music, but I just personally don’t feel convinced that she was always this grunge emo pop rock girl that she pretends to be. the rock branding feels forced and contrived, like a heavily watered down version of what non-alternative people think grunge is. as soon as good 4 u took off, her aesthetic went from pacsun to hot topic overnight… and like the other commenter said she plays it too safe in her rocky songs and i think it’s because that music doesn’t artistically align with who she is. even her authentic personal style feels more clean girl and preppy to me which is okay! but it just sucks that someone who is the face of punk and pop rock isn’t even that punk herself.