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There’s an angsty teen within all of us. What’s your favorite Olivia Rodrigo lyric?

Regardless of age, it’s brutal out there.

Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage.
Olivia Rodrigo performs during the MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

By Heather Alterisio

2 minutes to read

At 21, Olivia Rodrigo may no longer be considered a teenager, but her lyrics sure know how to reach the angsty teen within all of us – regardless of age.

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So, with the deluxe “Guts (spilled)” out Friday and her TD Garden shows less than two weeks away, we want to know which lyrics resonate the most with you, dear readers.

From the laughably relatable “‘And I’m not cool and I’m not smart / And I can’t even parallel park” in her song, “brutal,” to the devastating “So find someone great, but don’t find no one better / I hope you’re happy, but don’t be happier” in “happier,” Rodrigo’s lyrics have a beautiful way of capturing many of our innermost insecurities, including our occasional “jealousy, jealousy.”

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Her sophomore album, “Guts,” continued with some of the heartbreak themes of “Sour,” while revealing just a bit of how Rodrigo is growing up.

Here are just a few of some standout lyric examples from that album (though this writer could truly go on and on):

  • “Yes, I know that he’s my ex / But can’t two people reconnect? / ‘I only see him as a friend,’ The biggest lie I ever said” – “bad idea, right?“
  • “I got class and integrity just like a goddamn Kennedy, I swear” – “all-american bitch“
  • “I’m so tired of bein’ the girl that I am / Every good thing has turned into something I dread / And I’m playin’ the victim so well in my head / But it’s me who’s been making the bed” – “making the bed”
  • “He said I was the only girl but that just wasn’t the truth / And when I told him how he hurt me, he’d tell me I was trippin’ / But I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I could fix him” – “get him back!“
  • “They all say that it gets better, it gets better the more you grow / Yeah, they all say that it gets better, it gets better, but what if I don’t?” – “teenage dream“

Plus, a couple more favorites from “Sour”:

  • “Maybe I’m too emotional / Or maybe you never cared at all / Maybe I’m too emotional / Your apathy is like a wound in salt” – “good 4 u“
  • “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me / ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street” – “drivers license“

Whether it’s from a song on either of her albums, “Sour” or “Guts,” from “Can’t Catch Me Now” on “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” or from her time on “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” let us know the lyrics she’s written that you love/resonate with/just want to scream the most.

What's your favorite Olivia Rodrigo lyric?

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Heather Alterisio

Senior Content Producer

Heather Alterisio, a senior content producer, joined Boston.com in 2022 after working for more than five years as a general assignment reporter at newspapers in Massachusetts.

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