Olivia Rodrigo and the second verse massacre

About this episode

The episode discusses Olivia Rodrigo's new single 'drop dead' and the trend of abandoning traditional song structures in pop music.

Olivia Rodrigo's chart-topping new single "drop dead," the lead single from her forthcoming third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, breaks one of pop's oldest rules by abandoning the traditional second verse and replacing it with something entirely new. From Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" to Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" and Chappell Roan's "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl," a growing wave of today's biggest pop stars are ditching the verse-chorus formula listeners have been trained to expect for decades. Rodrigo didn't invent the second-verse switch-up, but on "drop dead" she may have just killed off the predictable second verse for good. Songs Discussed Frank Zappa "Charlene" Olivia Rodrigo "drop dead" The Cure "Just Like Heaven" Jean-Baptiste Lully "The Tragey of Armide" Ryan Brown conducting Opera Lafayette Olivia Rodrigo "drivers license" Olivia Rodrigo "good 4 u" Olivia Rodrigo "vampire" Olivia Rodrigo "ballad of a homeschooled girl" Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire — Patricia Kopatchinskaja Mariah Carey "Fantasy" (ft. Ol' Dirty Bastard) Blackstreet "No Diggity" (ft. Dr. Dre, Queen Pen) Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up" (ft. Kate Bush) Kendrick Lamar, SZA "luther"…

People in this episode

Host: Switched on Pop

Topics covered

• Olivia Rodrigo
• pop music
• song structure
• second verse
• music analysis
• chart-topping singles

Keywords

• Olivia Rodrigo
• second verse
• pop music
• song structure
• music analysis
• chart-topping
• Fantasy
• drivers license
• good 4 u

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: drop dead, Fantasy, Just Like Heaven, drivers license, good 4 u, vampire, ballad of a homeschooled girl, Pierrot Lunaire, No Diggity, Don't Give Up

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