Olivia Rodrigo Shows How 'Brutal' It Is To Be A Teen In New Video

Olivia Rodrigo surprise-dropped a new music video on Monday (August 23) showing how “Brutal” it is to be a teenager and wondering where her fucking teenage dream is, right after all.


Accompanied by an angsty grunge instrumental, the video introduces a choose-your-player selection channeling Adobe Flash web games from the dawn of the millennium. The cursor clicks on Rodrigo dressed in a pastel blue ballet outfit and matching wig. As she tries to perform en pointe, she falls over, horrified, because the other dancers dance completely around her.


The video then shows a montage of Rodrigo singing about how “so sick of 17” she is and playing different roles: a gossipy reporter, a stressed out commercial star, a bitter high schooler, along with a celebrity crying on Instagram Live. Rodrigo and her “two real friends” can also be seen wearing a number of different vibrant social media filters to portray her emotions and then some typical social media mannerisms of Gen Z.


“All I did was try my best / This the kinda thanks I get? / Unrelentlessly upset,” she sings. “They mention these are the golden years / Although wish I might vanish / Ego crush is so severe / God, it's brutal out here.”


As she complains about not knowing how to parallel park (or really just not fitting in with the high school hierarchy), we visualize Rodrigo in the backseat of a retro Cadillac with her companions. She climbs and walks on top of a few different cars in a crowded parking lot, ending the song with the confused lyric: “And God, I do not actually know where to start.” The video concludes with her standing on top of a rear end and the ballet dancers performing en pointe in back of her as cars loudly beep. A few drivers can be seen getting out of their cars.


“Brutal” is the initial track of Rodrigo’s debut album Sour, which was released on May 21. The album was critically acclaimed, debuting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and had the hugest starting week for any album in 2021. All 11 of Sour's tracks appeared indoors within the best 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 by June 5, thus making Rodrigo the initial female to simultaneously chart 11 or more songs in the chart's top 30.


Rodrigo also is nominated for five VMAs in the Artist of the Year, Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Push Efficiency of the Year, and Best Pop categories. She will perform her No. 1 smash hit “Good 4 U” throughout the show from Brooklyn’s  Barclays Center on September 12.