It’s brutal out here because Olivia Rodrigo just surprised her fans with something they’ve all been waiting for—a music video for the fan-favorite song “Brutal”, which perfectly captures the rebellious spirit and teenage angst of its amazing lyrics.
“Brutal” wasn’t released as one of the singles from Rodrigo’s chart-topping album Sour, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a smash hit. Following the record’s release, it debuted at no. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it climb higher following the release of Petra Collins-directed visual.
While discussing the song’s meaning with Zach Sang, the 18-year-old singer said she wrote it two weeks before turning the album in and decided to use it as the opening track because it does a great job representing her teenage years.
“It’s a song about when you’re in that pity party and you’re just like feeling sorry for yourself—it’s stuff that you would say when you’re in that. It’s sort of funny to have songs get big about like, how much you feel like nobody likes you. It’s sort of ironic and weird,” said Rodrigo.
Since its release on May 21st, Sour spent four weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart and produced hit singles “Drivers License”, “Deja Vu”, “Good 4 U”, and “Traitor”.
