Olivia Rodrigo hits SLHS student’s hearts once again

Maria Puga-Trevino, Staff Writer

“Deja Vu”, Olivia Rodrigo’s newest song since her recent January debut, “Drivers License”, has struck a huge array of emotions from everyone. Rodrigo explained on an Instagram post that her song would be up on every stream service Friday, April 2. Rodrigo had luck with her song “Drivers License,” which became one of the biggest songs on the planet, but no one really knew what was in store for “Deja Vu.” This was thought to be successful because “Drivers License” swept it’s way to number one on the billboard Top 100, along with breaking Spotify’s record for the most number of streams of a song in a week. 

For context, Olivia Rodrigo is an 18-year-old singer and actor, who is most popular from her funny and sarcastic teen role as Paige Olvera in Disney Channel’s comedy series, “Bizaardvark.”

After a lot of speculating rumors that were brewing as regards to who Rodrigo wrote “Drivers License,” many people wonder if she specifically wrote this song about a real-life event and or person. After all, it was made pretty obvious that her previous song had to do with a possible love triangle between herself, Joshua Bassett, and Sabrina Carpenter. 

“Deja Vu” and “Drivers License” have very notable similarities and differences. To keep the theme going, Olivia starts off “Deja Vu” with the context of being in a car. “Car rides to Malibu, strawberry ice cream, one spoon for two, and trading jackets, laughing ‘bout how small it looks on you.” Fans went crazy after hearing the rest of the song as Rodrigo had obviously written a song about a relationship. 

Alex Hardy, a sophomore at St.Louis High School l sat down and agreed to listen to the song. While he was listening to it, he made some noticeable confused but intrigued gestures. At the beginning, he was a little bit hesitant of his emotions. However, as soon as he got into the song, his body language shifted. When the song struck its verse, Hardy seemed more appealed to the song, almost as if he were enjoying it. Then, he discussed his thoughts,  “Listening to this song feels like I had just gotten out of a short middle-school relationship. Her voice throughout the song was very breathy. It seems like a lot of girls listen to this when they say they have ‘depression.’However, it was pretty fantastic lyrically overall.”

Personally, I was pumped after reading a post that she made declaring her new song, “Deja Vu,” would be coming out Friday, April 2. I wouldn’t call myself a super fan of Olivia Rodrigo, but I do enjoy the type of person she is and the arts that she has released. She had posted that her song would be out at 8:45 a.m. that morning. However, I took my time that morning to get around to listening to the song. 

As I was listening to the song, I realized that I was really interested in what this was about. At the beginning she started off with her voice soft and lingering on the notes that she sang. When she started to sing the chorus, it reminded me of Taylor Swift’s lyrics. The chorus talks about how everything her ex is doing with his current relationship they already did together. Hence the lyrics, “So when are you gonna tell her that we did that, too?” For the rest of the stanza she explains that all of his romantic tactics are all “reused.” Then, continues to say that she and his current girlfriend are similar in regards to how they both look, sound, and dress. Therefore, using the lyrics, “Do you get deja vu when she’s with you?”

After listening to the song, I was very pleased with what she had put out. I thought it was great that Rodrigo stuck to her roots and played it safe with the song. After all, both songs mention driving around in a car and having her heart broken.