Published May 22, 2026
Olivia Rodrigo just released her second single, the cure, from her upcoming album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, and it appears to be greatly inspired by her two-year-long relationship with Louis Partridge.
The 23-year-old pop superstar spoke about the inspiration for a song in a new interview saying, “When I was younger, I was always reaching for something. I was like, ‘Oh, if I have this, then I’ll be happier. If I, like, have this guy and he loves me the way I always thought he would love me, like, I’ll feel better about myself.’ Slowly, throughout the course of my life and this relationship that I’m talking about, I kind of just realised that the issues that you have aren’t just going to be solved by some other person."
The drivers license hitmaker called the song the "thesis statement" for the album, and noted that a relationship "can distract you, but they’re your issues. I also think falling in love actually makes those issues even clearer to you. I think that’s why it’s so important, like, you know yourself so deeply and so intimately by falling for people and being raw and gross and making mistakes."
Referring to her own relationship with the Enola Holmes star, Rodrigo added, "I think I was figuring that out too. I was in a romantic relationship that was actually real and intimate for the first time, and being like, ‘Whoa!’ This is like holding a mirror to me, and I’m seeing sh-t that I don’t like about myself. And that was a tough realization.”
Confronting the difficult parts of a romantic relationship is an over-arching theme for the upcoming album as the Grammy winner set out to put her feelings about love on paper, but ended up with sad love songs as she shared in previous interviews.