Olivia Rodrigo – “The Cure”

I'm about to go Pepe Silvia on Olivia Rodrigo; her new single has given me plenty of enough thread to do it, to completely unravel. (If you don't know Pepe Silvia, you should. It's one of TV's best moments from the legendary It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.) Anyway, this post is about Olivia Rodrigo and her latest single from her forthcoming album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. It's called "The Cure," and it's about heartbreak and paranoia and that desperate hunger for someone else's love to be the antidote to our insecurities and melancholy.

The Cure is also the name of the legendary goth band that she's a big fan of — such a big fan that she performed with frontman Robert Smith last summer at Glastonbury, and then also gave a shoutout to in the album's lead single "Drop Dead" where she sang, "You know all the words to 'Just Like Heaven' / And I know why he wrote them / Now that you're standin' right here." Even though the song isn't really about Robert Smith or the Cure, I like to imagine it is and that no love will come close to the magic that music is and music makes us. My guys, it's all connected and it's so beautiful.

"The Cure" is also a good song. It sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins, something from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It begins on acoustic guitar with insistent downward strums. Rodrigo's vocals are hushed and quick like she's trying to protect a secret. As the chorus hits it begins to blossom into something more magnificent with strings and layered vocals. There's a ripped sadness to her voice, coupled with an intensifying repetition of lyrics, that reminds me Hole's Live Through This. Maybe it's "Doll Parts." My Pepe Silvia board continues to unravel: Courtney Love and Billy Corgan reunited recently for a podcast chat. Here they are again, their influence converging on "The Cure."

A few days ago, Rodrigo shared on Instagram that this new single is "my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made." I think she might be right. It might be the best she's ever written. It was penned with prominent collaborator Dan Nigro and comes with an excellent video by Cat Solen and Jaime Gerin. The visual features Rodrigo walking the pale halls of a cardboard-crafted hospital where she tries to concoct a remedy for a broken heart. Instead, she begins to unravel into loose red threads. She began to Pepe Silvia. Also, her upcoming world tour is called the Unraveled Tour, which now makes a lot of sense.

It seems like Rodrigo is having a lot of fun with the press rollout for all this new music. Last night, she premiered the video and single at the Metrograph Theatre in New York City. There was also a Q&A event with fans where she was asked things like "What emoji would this album be?" (The swirly-eyed smiley face).

She also previewed the new single on an NTS show that featured many great, sad love songs including some by the Cure. Her playlist started with Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms,” and she called it the “greatest sad love song of all time”:

“I saw him perform it live in a small church just before Christmas. I was in London and got invited to this incredible show. It was lit by candles and it was just him at the piano singing that song. and I nearly died.“

Rodrigo will be a guest on NYT's Popcast next week, where she described "The Cure" as the album's thesis.

Check out "The Cure" and more below.

you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love is out 6/12 via Geffen. "The Cure" is now available to pre-order on vinyl and cassette.