☆ Tracklist Ranking ☆
- lacy
- ballad of a homeschooled girl
- making the bed
- get him back!
- logical
- all american bitch
- pretty isn’t pretty
- vampire
- love is embarrassing
- teenage dream
- bad idea right?
- the grudge
1. lacy
When I first listened to “lacy”, I immediately added it to my liked playlist. I can always tell in the first thirty seconds whether I like a song, and this was one of them. One of the reasons I like “lacy” is because of how much I can understand the lyrics. My favorite trait in an artist is when their experiences can be seen and understood by others, even for those who can’t relate. The lyrics so clearly convey Olivia’s feelings about this “lacy”, that with just one listen, I felt a personal connection. The beginning of both choruses show this perfectly:
“Oh, I care, I care, I care / Like perfume that you wear / I linger all the time / Watching hidden in plain sight.”
“Oh, I care, I care, I care / Like ribbons in your hair / My stomach’s all in knots / You got the one thing that I want.”
“Lacy” also reminds me of “jealously, jealousy”, which was one of my favorite songs from SOUR. The acoustic strings that play in the background makes it sound so angelic.
2. ballad of a homeschooled girl
“BOAHG” was also one of my favorites off the bat, because of my level of relatability. I wasn’t homeschooled, but I can still feel a truth behind these lyrics:
“I’m on the outside of the greatest inside joke / And I hate all my clothes / Feels like my skin doesn’t fit right over my bones / So I guess I should go / The party’s done, and I’m no fun, I know, I know.”
“Thought your mom was your wife (Ah) / Called you the wrong name twice (Ah) / Can’t think of a third line (Ah) / La-la-la-la-la-la (Ah). “
The chorus is my favorite part because the words all come at once and roll out at once. It reminds me of running down a hill and being out of breath when you get to the bottom, which ties into the theme of “BOAHG”.
3. making the bed
“I thought it, so I said it, took it ’cause I can / Another day pretendin’ I’m older than I am / Another perfect moment that doesn’t feel like mine / Another thing I forced to be a sign.”
“I’m so tired of bein’ the girl that I am / Every good thing has turned into somethin’ I dread / And I’m playin’ the victim so well in my head / But it’s me who’s been makin’ the bed.”
I feel like these quotes perfectly represent the feeling of setting yourself up for failure. I also love the way Olivia used making a bed as symbolism for “making the bed” too. I don’t think I’ll ever been able to put my feelings into words as well as she does. “Making the bed” (once again) connected with me the second I listened to it. Overall, I love the flow and the instrumental.
4. get him back!
“I picture all the faces of my disappointed friends / Because everyone knew all of the shit that he’d do / 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.”
I didn’t rate “get him back!” as high, but it’s definitely one of my favorites on the album. Her rock heavy songs are my preference compared to the light ballads. This song is fun to me because the lyrics are so unserious in the best way. The “maybe I could fix him” line is the highlight of the song, and the small adlibs (like the ending) are such a special touch too.
5. logical
6. all american bitch
7. pretty isn’t pretty
8. vampire
9. love is embarrassing
10. teenage dream
11. bag idea right?
12. the grudge
Sources:
https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a45048034/olivia-rodrigo-lacy-lyrics-meaning/
