StoriesFrom our archive
How Olivia Rodrigo became a sound.
“big-ticket pop has entered its post-SOUR phase”
After SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo’s name entered reviews of other artists. Follow the dated comparisons back through the sounds critics heard in her own records.
Each comparison is something a critic wrote, dated, and linked where the review is online. It is not a claim about who shaped whom.
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PITCHFORK ON SOUR · 21 MAY 2021
“you might hear pop-punk fireworks à la Paramore”
Riot! by Paramore, 2007
PITCHFORK ON THE WAITRESSES · 15 OCTOBER 2023
“Donahue’s nonchalant sass has echoed for decades… today in Olivia Rodrigo’s casual angst”
Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? by The Waitresses, 1982
Read the review (opens in a new tab)ROLLING STONE ON LIVE AT GLASTONBURY · 5 DECEMBER 2025
“they update the feral grunge fury of L7 or the Breeders”
Last Splash by The Breeders, 1993
Read the review (opens in a new tab)THE QUIETUS ON YOU SEEM PRETTY SAD FOR A GIRL SO IN LOVE · 22 JUNE 2026
“Drawing from 80s new wave, alt-rock and The Cure”
Disintegration by The Cure, 1989
Read the review (opens in a new tab)Critics began using Rodrigo as a comparison. “like an R-rated Olivia Rodrigo”.
PITCHFORK ON RENEÉ RAPP · 2 AUGUST 2025
Read the review (opens in a new tab)THE LINE OF BEST FIT ON TATE MCRAE · 27 MAY 2022
“the influence of Taylor Swift, this time perhaps via Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour”
i used to think i could fly by Tate McRae, 2022
Read the review (opens in a new tab)PITCHFORK ON VIAL · 3 APRIL 2024
“Olivia Rodrigo… VIAL should be first in line as her tour opener”
LOUDMOUTH by VIAL, 2021
Read the review (opens in a new tab)ROLLING STONE ON CHARLY BLISS · 16 AUGUST 2024
“suggests Olivia Rodrigo after binging Weezer’s Blue Album”
Forever by Charly Bliss, 2024
Read the review (opens in a new tab)ROLLING STONE ON SOMBR · 22 AUGUST 2025
“calling to mind the emotional devastation of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Traitor’”
I Barely Know Her by sombr, 2025
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Critics used to hear Paramore in her. Now they hear her in sombr.
Written by synff from the reviews above
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Read the storyStart with Olivia Rodrigo.
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“keeps music lovers curious and committed to the art form”
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