Olivia Rodrigo revealed that after her split from boyfriend Louis Partridge, she reworked and refined love songs for her upcoming album. In her new album, "You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love," the pop star chronicles the ups and downs of her relationship.
During an appearance on The New York Times' Popcast podcast, Olivia confirmed that she wrote the songs in real time, as events unfolded, and then edited the love ballads after her split from the actor who played Enola Holmes.
«"After writing songs about breakups and things like that, Dan (Nigro, co-writer and producer) and I were faced with the interesting challenge of going back to some of the love songs on the album and making them a little more honest and sad and creepy," she shared.
«I was really happy with how it turned out… We kind of made changes after the fact and turned it into a cohesive piece, rather than just isolated moments.».
She explained that the first six songs, including the lead single "Drop Dead," are love songs, with the track "Purple" marking the middle of the album before the breakup songs.
«"Purple was originally a love song," she continued. "There were six songs, then Purple, and that's when the doubts started to set in, and then [the second single] The Cure.".
The 23-year-old singer has refused to call her third album a "concept album" because she believes it would be an "insult" to the genre, but she does consider it a "capsule" of her life during that particular period.
«"I've never been one to think, 'I'm going to make a concept album,'" she said. "I write songs to process my feelings, so every day when I sit down at the piano or pick up the guitar and go into the studio, I think, 'What do I want to say right now?' It also comes from the heart, and it's not a very thoughtful process.".
Olivia and Louis reportedly split in December after two years of dating.
Earlier this year, the "Drivers License" singer denied rumors that she had scrapped her album entirely following the breakup.
The film "You Look Pretty Sad for a Girl So Much in Love" will be released on June 12.