Olivia Rodrigo’s career has been an absolute whirlwind since the release of “drivers license" in early 2021. In the film, Rodrigo reflects and takes viewers to the spots where each song of her debut album, SOUR, was written. The road trip from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Los Angeles is one she had taken so many times as a child star. The movie has a grainy and nostalgic film over the footage to match her current aesthetic.
Rodrigo premiered new arrangements of many of the songs off the album as well as commentary that could have been shortened into a video for a deluxe album. Her commentary for each song has a few minutes of an explanation of her inspiration for the song as well as clips of her in the studio with her producer, Dan Nigro.
The film was probably meant to feel more authentic, and it did in studio sessions, but certain shots felt forced and directed by Stacey Lee. There were scenes when she was driving in a vintage sky blue Ford Bronco and where she displayed spacey stares in a hotel room. The movie started really slow and did not really pick up until the end when there were more clips of studio recordings than just comments from Rodrigo.
Honestly, the film feels almost like a rehashing of the drama surrounding the album. Of course, the album was inspired by her heartbreak following a breakup with Joshua Bassett, but mentioning him almost felt like saying "Voldemort" in the Harry Potter series.
She sits in a room reading what seems to be a diary entry from the day she got her driver's license. This scene feels almost immature, but it reminds the viewer that she was 17 when she made the entry and is currently 19. Expecting her film to match Taylor Swift’s maturity is asking for too much because she is still learning and still growing up.
Rodrigo did mention in her commentary about “deja vu” that her intention was not to create drama or give in to the love triangle theory. She also did not want to try and create a narrative that she was hating on other girls or wanted her fans to do so.
In the segment for “enough for you,” Rodrigo mentions the stresses of creating an album while being a child star. As a Disney kid, she felt no one would actually tell her the truth when she messed up, so it created a lot of self-doubt. When creating the album, she was frustrated that a lot of her songs, especially “enough for you,” sounded the same as other songs on the album and were boring.
A last-minute song to be added to the album was “brutal.” Rodrigo and Nigro chat with others several days before the tracklist was due about adding “one more upbeat song.” She recorded the song just a day after creating the melody with Nigro. She explained how she felt constantly watched by anyone and everyone, which led her to create the angsty song.
The performances of each song are truly what makes the film, though. “Drivers license" gets a chilling montage, which includes her first recording of the song and her most recent performances so that viewers are able to see the creation and evolving process of the record-breaking song.
The movie began with the track “happier,” being that it was one of her first songs written and also related to how she met Nigro. She performed the song with her band, and it was so much more energized than the original. Rodrigo performed “favorite crime” with a dreamy surf guitar accompanying her grungy voice.
Toward the end of the film, she performed “traitor” similar to an old school Ed Sheeran loop effect with vocals, piano and guitar. These new arrangements might give insight into her upcoming tour arrangements if she chooses to change them from the original studio version.
The movie ends with Rodrigo and her band running into the ocean to cap off the road trip and an unreleased song. The end credits have the much-anticipated snippet of the song “baby is you.” She mentioned in an interview that it was her favorite song before the album came out.
