SOUR Album Songs Review

How I felt while listening to this album while exercising (>100 times played)

Unlike the usual routine of my album reviews towards the end of a 4-month phase, this one is not a Taylor Swift one. This is because Taylor Swift has not really released anything new in a minute. So after listening to SOUR (by Olivia Rodrigo) during pretty much every single run since May (and while doing assignments and stuff), I have come up with my conclusive opinion(s) of this fireeeeeeee album.

So as reference, from September-December 2020 it was Folklore, from January-April 2021 it was Evermore which I listened to. It was pretty clutch that SOUR was released in the middle of May, right after my Spring semester of school started. Before then, I was still doing a mix of Folklore/Evermore, which was still very nice, but I wanted a new nice album to listen to while running.

Routine/Backstory (pre-review)

So far this summer, unlike Fall 2020 and Winter/Spring 2021, I was not stuck with a constant mileage every day of the week (if you went back to those previous posts, most of my runs were 7–9 miles long Monday-Friday, then maybe a long(er) run on the weekend). Most weeks were above 70 miles, and the easy days (7–8 miles) were Monday/Thursday/Saturday, while the more longer sessions (12–20 miles, quite varied) were on Wednesday/Sunday, while the other days were just a bit longer like ~10 miles).

So it was quite different, and unlike the Taylor Swift albums from before, this one was just over 30 minutes long?! This meant I would either have to loop this album 2–3 times (or even 4–5 times on longer run days) during runs. The solution in the beginning was just to play SOUR first, then either Folklore/Evermore afterwards which would be around 90 minutes of total time which should roughly cover most runs except my Sunday long run.

However, I didn’t feel like doing another album that I did for months and months before. As good as it was, I needed something fresh. And somehow I was able to find one, and that was Future Nostalgia (moonlight edition) from Dua Lipa, which was well over 1 hour long which was nice. Although this post will not necessarily be reviewing that album (I don’t know if I will at all, since it was not the most enjoyable, but I just needed something new to listen to as a routine).

Overall, that was the routine. Wake up early in the morning, get ready for run (maybe listening to a song — either Save Your Tears or Bad Habits — that was nice), then queue up SOUR and Future Nostalgia afterwards. And it would be solid for most runs. And that is basically the routine. No regrets, since SOUR is one of the best things I have listened to this year. Also, as always I listen to the albums in the proper order every day, since it’s also nice that way!

brutal

Brutal was a very nice opening song to this album. A bit different in that there were more drums and stuff (kind of like rock-ish style I guess). But overall, I really enjoyed the rhythm and how upbeat it was; something very nice to listen to to start off the run! Under 150 seconds long, but I still enjoy it every morning, super nice and energetic! 10/10.

traitor

Traitor is also a very nice song. I would say it is one of my favorites in this album (will say this for almost every song though since all of them were super amazing). The melody, lyrics, and beat overall is all very nice. The vocals and all were nice too. Very nice to listen to, and a super enjoyable experience. A bit catchy, and something that will never get old! 10+/10.

driver’s license

Driver’s license is one of my favorites in this album (probably my favorite given that it is the song most played by me all-time! I think). Probably the one that was Olivia Rodrigo’s first big hit as well, and one that was super catchy for everyone else too. I really enjoy this song, and despite it being played over and over again (I usually listen to this song doing other things too) for months on end, I still enjoy listening to this song so much, even singing along at times. The bridge was sooooo gooooooood, and overall every part of this song is amazing! Too nice! 10+/10.

1 step forward, 3 steps back

A nice song overall, a bit softer in melody and less upbeat, especially after the super nice parts of driver’s license. I enjoy the piano elements, and the vocals are also nice too. Not sure what else to say, but this is still a super solid song overall. 9/10.

deja vu

Deja vu is probably one of my favorite songs from this album as well! I think this was initially my go-to song from the album (before somehow Driver’s License got even better, not sure how). I really really enjoy the lyrics, and unlike I guess some of Taylor Swift’s songs, I can visualize and understand the song a bit more easily. As some people pointed out online, the ending part of this song is a bit similar to Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift which I can see some elements of too (except I think that this song is even better by like 1000x). Some nice upbeatness at parts, and overall I really love listening to this song all the time! 10+/10.

good 4 u

I guess good 4 u is a pretty popular song right now on tik tok or something like that, and that it is the next song from SOUR that is being listened to quite a bit more. To me, this is a really good song. I enjoy the upbeatness and the melody. Some parts are nice to sing along to as well. But there are some elements found in deja vu and driver’s license that I just don’t get the vibes from this song. Still super good, but I don’t feel that extra factor that I found in those other two songs (maybe the guitar and drum stuff gets in the way a bit, like brutal I guess??). Still a really good song that I enjoy listening to. But not really a go-to. 9/10.

enough for you

After a string of super high quality nice songs, I think this song tones it down a bit. Not as upbeat, and more vocal-focused I guess. I still love listening to it, and it feels super nice with the guitar melody. Weird to describe or explain, but it feels nice to listen to, even though it does contrast quite a bit from the previous songs. 9.5/10.

happier

A bit similar to enough for you, I really enjoy the vocal-focused parts as well. The piano melody is really nice, the lyrics are really nice. Just like the previous song, no super special ‘oomph’ to make it super duper duper nice, but this was still a really nice song to always listen to. 9.5/10.

jealousy, jealousy

A bit more upbeat compared to the previous songs and a bit more loud too. More guitar emphasis and rock-ish style just like a few of the previous songs in this album. The lyrics are super nice, and I really enjoy the chorus part of this song as well. Everything just fit together really well. Super nice song to listen to! Nice and catchy too. 10/10.

favorite crime

Again, just like a few of the previous songs, this song is more slow paced and more vocal-focused. I really like it still though, and the lyrics are really nice. A super enjoyable song to listen to with the guitar and melody overall. Not much to say again, aside from this song being super soothing and nice! 10/10.

hope ur ok

Not sure how to exactly describe the style of this song, but I was able to understand the lyrics nicely, and the beat and rhythm is super duper nice as well. I really really enjoyed the bridge part of this song, and a pretty nice ending/concluding song to this super duper nice album (arguably one of the best I’ve ever listened to top-bottom)! 10/10.

So overall, I will give this album 10+/10. It is truly one of the best albums I have listened to. The vocal styles, beats, catchiness, rhythm, etc. is super duper really good. Not sure if the shorter length contributes to the reason why, but even though numerous songs are sub-3 minutes long, all of them are still super enjoyable to listen to. The best songs of this album are really out of this world for me! I loved listening to this album every morning while I exercise (and outside of exercising of course)! It does not seem to be wearing off on me at all (unlike some other albums I have listened to previously).

Will I put this above the previous Taylor Swift albums (my favorite music artist) that I have listened to earlier this year/last year as part of a morning routine? Well, it is quite hard to tell, and it would be tough putting this really young musician’s debut album over my favorite artist’s albums which were super duper good as well. But overall, considering this is a very new music artist and just her debut album (granted it was a super popular one), I would say that this album is still amazing. She might even replace Taylor Swift for me in the future as my favorite musician………

But to stay on topic, this album has given me tons of good vibes and memories, and a album that I have truly enjoyed listening to from the first to last song. Although it could be a bit longer, I would still consider this to be near-perfect for me. Hopefully I can find, or an artist can release a nice album for me to listen to during September-December 2021 while exercising and stuff to continue the tri-annual 4-month phase (to coincide with school/internship work terms for my school!)