Road trip revelations: ‘Driving home 2 u’ serenades and unpacks lessons Olivia Rodrigo learned through SOUR

Heartbreak can make a person crumble, but singer Olivia Rodrigo took the shattered pieces of her heart and sewed them back together through her album “SOUR.”

The documentary “driving home 2 u” is an inside look at the journey through Rodrigo’s experience with heartbreak and her healing process.

It’s set up like a road trip, not only to align with the explosion of her song “driver’s license,” but to show the important places between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles where the album was put together.

There was a balanced blend of information about the behind the scenes of making the album and songs being performed, but the part of the documentary that caught my attention was how the songs were played differently than the versions that appeared on “SOUR.” The songs were rewritten to have slight differences, whether it be in the spaces of breath between words or adding completely new instruments like electric guitar riffs and string ensembles.

“I really loved the new versions of the songs sung in the documentary,” freshman Parin Sensenbrenner said. “The string elements in ‘good 4 you’ allowed for her crisp vocals to really shine and gave an extra dramatic effect that I really liked hearing. The electric guitar was always really cool to see the diversity in her sound.”

The evolution of her songs in the documentary showed how despite her having the album “SOUR” solidified, she is still growing as a musician.

“To me, [her music maturing in the documentary] makes me think that she’s growing as an artist,” sophomore Mia Vallejo said. “I enjoyed most of the songs when they were revamped, she definitely made the documentary unique in my opinion by changing every song’s delivery.”

Aside from the music evolving, there was a deeper level of understanding between the audience and Rodrigo in how she felt while creating the album. The performances of each song were in the environment which she created the song in or inspired her most. She performed in bedrooms, forests, planes and a variety of other settings.

“I think the new environments gave each song a new energy,” Sensenbrenner said. “For example, I would have never imagined ‘enough for you’ being in a forest, but I like how it connects her feelings of isolation internally and externally in that environment. I think it was really smart to have the environments enforce the feelings the songs portrayed, even if the audience didn’t consciously notice it.”

But, many people preferred seeing the behind the scenes action more than the music because it added a new level of connection to Rodrigo than through her lyrics.

“I loved seeing the behind the scenes of the making of the songs, especially the making of brutal and how carefree it was,” sophomore Alik Schier said. “I think they give more emotion to the songs and allow the story to get developed more.”

Following the behind the scenes stories were the lessons Rodrigo learned as she wrote the album. Forgiving not only the person who hurt her, but also forgiving herself was a large part of the journey she learned about. Rodrigo said the song “favorite crime” helped her forgive herself for letting other people take advantage of her.

Not only did the viewers learn lessons about expression and heartbreak, but they got to see an inside look at how Rodrigo went about writing the album.

At the end of the documentary, viewers were also given a sneak peek of a new song at the end of the documentary, potentially being a part of a new album. But there is no specificity of when the song or potential new album will be released.