Melissa Kacar

Olivia Rodrigo 's debut album is such a distinct and realistic depiction of all the sweet and sour parts of what it means to be a young woman growing up and coming of age in the modern world. What was initially meant to be just an EP quickly transformed into a full-length project after the massive success of her debut single "drivers license" surpassed everyone's expectations in early 2021 . Olivia and her core collaborator on this project - and on all of her music thus far - Dan Nigro , put this album together in just a few months. While she would go on to further develop her sound and find herself musically throughout the creation of subsequent releases, this stands as one of the defining debut albums of this generation of pop music.  Olivia has always worn both her influences and her heart on her sleeve, and SOUR feels like a natural extension of that. Each song is deeply personal, yet clearly shaped by the music that raised her. Much of  SOUR feels like modern, u...

GUTS  is the highly anticipated sophomore release from Olivia Rodrigo , following up her massively successful debut album, SOUR , in 2021 . To have the level of success she has had right out the gate with her first-ever single "driver's license" in early 2021 is so rare and she quickly became one of the most notable pop artists to debut this decade so far. There are a lot of songs that I have come to really enjoy on this album, some of which are among my favorites of the entire year so far. When comparing  GUTS   to  SOUR ,  they are alike in a lot of ways, both sonically and aesthetically. In my opinion,  GUTS  builds upon the foundation she and her producer/co-writer, Dan Nigro, set in place with  SOUR  really well. Olivia is in such an interesting and unique position as an artist right now. The closest, or most recent, comparison I have to it is where Billie Eilish was at with her career a few years ago after her debut album . Both her an...

"APT." by ROSÉ stands out as a major highlight from her debut solo album, rosie , which was released in late 2024. As a member of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK , ROSÉ embraced a bold and experimental approach for the start of her solo journey, as the rest of her bandmates have as well. This was the lead single of rosie, released alongside the announcement of her solo album, which went on to become one of the biggest global hits of all time.  It has a strong pop punk vibe to it, which is mostly an outlier compared to the rest of the album, but serves as the perfect introduction to ROSÉ as a solo artist. With her solo debut, she experimented with so many new styles of music that showcased her versatility as an artist. Much of the album feels like a culmination of influences such as Olivia Rodrigo , Katy Perry , Selena Gomez and Avril Lavigne . I have really enjoyed hearing all of the new music each member of BLACKPINK has released over the past few months, and the unique ap...