Over the past two weeks, I listened to three teen queens’ (Madison Beer, Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish) latest albums. It’s a lot.
When I was in high school, I jumped music genres like a frog on a lillypad. My shuffle went from Taylor Swift to Panic! at the Disco to Parachute to the Beatles to Demi Lovato. You get the idea. I didn’t subscribe to one specific label. That said, when it came to teen idols of that era, I had a one-track mind for Disney Channel. I wanted to be Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez. They were the pop princesses of my era. The teen queen concept certainly isn’t new. However, I feel like society (read: social media) has changed the way we look at celebrity. As a result, celebrity has a new way of looking at us.
I decided to listen to three albums that have come out in the past six months, from artists who are the Gen-Z version of “it girls.” I’ve mentioned Madison Beer once or twice before, but only in the context of her makeup! She initially rose to fame after Justin Bieber shared a cover of a song she posted on Youtube. She’s been a rising musician for years. Now, after releasing various singles and an EP three years ago, Life Support is her first studio album.
Secondly, after “drivers license” went viral at the beginning of 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released SOUR, her debut album. Following in the footsteps of “drivers license,” the rest of SOUR went viral on TikTok. When looking at the track listing, I realized I had already heard at least a snippet of half its songs.
Lastly, I listened to Billie Eilish’s new album, Happier than Ever. Olivia is sort of the new girl on the block, and Madison has long been bubbling under the surface. Billie’s album was the first to be that of a fully established, award winning artist. With all of them at varying levels of fame, they are all in roughly the same age bracket (or at the very least, they are all “Gen Z”).That said, their albums touch on the same issues that resonate with most audiences regardless of age: love, loss, insecurity, and fear.
Enough preamble! Let’s get to the breakdown.
Teen Queens: Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR
A lot of critics have compared Olivia (favorably) to Taylor Swift. That comparison is fair, but I would argue that Taylor always came across (in her first albums, at least) as a sweet girl who smiles, and maybe gets a little sassy when boys are mean to her. Olivia comes off as angry and frustrated, which I think is a more realistic depiction of a teenage girl. “brutal,” the opening song, feels like it came straight out of Kat Stratford’s journal. I hope that Olivia knows that it’s brutal as a teenager, but just wait until you become a REAL adult. Parallel parking is still hard, AND you have to pay taxes!
Circling back to the Taylor Swift comparison, some of the tracks are clearly styled and inspired by Taylor. In fact, Olivia samples her song “Cruel Summer” in “deja vu”. As a “Swiftie,” I also hear her sound in the songs “1 step forward, 3 steps back” and “hope ur ok.” I also heard some shades of Taylor in the song “traitor,” which is one of my favorite songs on the album (and sounds awesome when mashed up with “Burn” from “Hamilton”).
Olivia has a talent for a snappy bridge: “jealousy, jealousy”, “deja vu” and “drivers license” all have one! Speaking of “drivers license,” I don’t really know how it’s been listened to over a billion (with a b) times on Spotify. This isn’t me showing jealousy (jealousy), because I do think it’s a good song, but for it to have gone so viral so fast is so mind boggling to me! I know that it will go down in history (at least for 2021) for that reason. Also that bridge gets me every time.
My favorite song from the album, without question, is “good 4 u.” It’s sarcastic, it’s upset, and it’s different than Taylor. It took Taylor (or her label? The industry? It’s all politics, you get my point) a few albums to get a bit sarcastic about the men who break her heart. Olivia isn’t afraid to say “screw that, and screw you.” In this, she breaks away from Taylor to find her own voice. Good for her.
Underrated Gem: enough for you
Teen Queens: Madison Beer, Life Support
Out of the darkness, something beautiful. That seems to be the theme of Life Support, which Madison wrote in the midst of a mental breakdown connected to her diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. With that in mind, the album goes back and forth between straightforward pop to dreamy ballads, with a dash of fever dream in between. “The Beginning,” sounds a bit like the latter, with near-angelic voices beckoning you into an acid trip. However, it also sounds a lot like “raindrops (an angel cried)” from Ariana Grande’s album sweetener.
Therein lies a problem with Madison’s album. Going through something as tough as a mental breakdown, on that big a scope, is tough enough. Being barely-an-adult (at 22, she’s no longer a teenager) makes it tougher. Add on a couple million instagram followers whose comments border on passive aggression or go right into bullying (amongst a flurry of hearts and flame emojis, of course), and you’ve got yourself a pickle in a sh*t sandwich. For that reason, I take issue with the album’s chief sound. It feels like Madison’s ideas were packaged up into a pretty, pop, “but make it Ariana Grande” package. On some songs, the Ariana influence works (“BOYSHIT” is a banger). However, it feels like Madison struggles to break out her own voice in a sea of Ariana Grande duplicates. In that battle, Ariana wins on “Effortlessly” and “Sour Times.”
A standout song is “Homesick.” It starts out sounding like Ariana’s “no tears left to cry,” but turns into something else. She ends the track with a clip from “Rick and Morty,” an existential masterpiece of television. The track immediately goes into the most successful song from the album, “Selfish,” which feels less like Ariana and more like someone who LIKES Ariana. With songs like “Stay Numb and Carry On” and “Blue,” Madison has so much room left to grow as an artist.
I think Madison doesn’t enjoy people comparing her (unfavorably) to Ariana Grande. For that reason, I wonder how much of a say in her album she really REALLY had. She went on a small rant on social media wondering aloud why she had to do all the work for her album, only for her label to do the bare minimum with promoting it. Madison Beer has the face of a star, millions of fans, and the vocal talent to back it up to boot. She needs better representation to bolster her career. The album proves Madison has potential. The fact that she’s already working on her second album proves that she’s got incredible work ethic. I’m eager to see where she goes.
Underrated Gem: Follow the White Rabbit
Teen Queens: Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
Not too long ago, I sung the praises of Billie’s first full length album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? With that in mind, I was excited to hear Billie’s new album. This one was softer and lighter compared to its predecessor. Much like Miranda Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Happier Than Ever” opens with a song so soft that you have to lean in to listen. It commands your attention from the beginning. The song, titled “Getting Older,” introduces a theme that persists throughout the album of emotional abuse and manipulation, as a consequence of fame.
Billie writes all her songs with her brother Finneas, who I find to be a true master of music production. “Happier Than Ever” sees Billie branch out into more jazzy and soulful tracks. A song literally titled “Billie Bossa Nova” consists of Billie’s lilting voice set to a Bossa Nova rhythm. Halfway through the album, Billie delivers a spoken word titled “Not My Responsibility” about body image.
When she first appeared on the scene, she wore oversized jackets and pants and rarely showed her body. She was about sixteen at that time. Not long before her eighteenth birthday, a photo of Billie in a tank-top went viral. Comments about her figure only worsened when she turned eighteen. In “Not My Responsibility,” she reflects on how people will make comments about her appearance no matter what (“If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman, if I shed the layers, I’m a slut”), and that their opinion is not her problem. The song immediately following “Not My Responsibility,” “OverHeated,” doubles down, talking about the nature of influencer culture.
Billie addresses most heavily the nature of fame and unrequited love in “Happier than Ever,” with the titular song appearing as the penultimate track to slam the point home. The final minute of “Happier Than Ever” (the song) packs a punch. For that reason, I feel like “Male Fantasy” should not have taken the place of the final song. It’s a good song, but “Happier Than Ever” has a stronger impact.
While I prefer the first album, I think that Happier Than Ever shows that Billie really is just getting started. She remembers her roots (as evidenced by “Therefore I Am,” a bop among bops) in synth teen-goth, but isn’t afraid to push herself to new challenges (like “NDA,” another bop). Pandemic notwithstanding, Billie has a tour planned for 2022. I’m eager to see a live version of “Happier Than Ever,” particularly as a million people scream “YOU MADE ME HATE THIS CITY.”
Underrated Gem: Oxytocin
Heartbreak’s a real doozy. It’s a universal concept, and it’s no surprise that Billie, Madison, and Olivia all have great songs on their albums about unrequited love. That said, with love being an obvious subject for music, all three reference, with little filter, other previously taboo topics. Commonalities in subject matter aside, these teen queens all have their own sound, and there’s room for all of them to grow in this industry. There’s plenty of crowns for us all.