Olivia Rodrigo pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of making the DMV a place you’d want to be, performing a stripped-down set of Sour hits at one such location in the latest installment of NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert series.
The setting — which Rodrigo described as having some “interesting vibes to it,” to say the least — was an obvious nod to her breakout hit “Drivers License,” which of course featured prominently in the four-song set. While Rodrigo had her backing band on hand, her rendition of “Drivers License” was a fully solo endeavor, with the singer-songwriter belting the aching ballad as she accompanied herself on the piano under the fluorescent glow of the DMV’s lights.
Rodrigo opened her Tiny Desk set with a full-band, all-acoustic version of her other major Sour smash, “Good 4 U.” A tender rendition of “Traitor” — accentuated with some lonesome slide guitar riffs — followed, while Rodrigo closed things out with an exuberant and electric performance of “Deja Vu.”
Rodrigo’s Tiny Desk dropped one day after she announced a massive 2022 tour in support of Sour. The North American leg of the trek will kick off April 2 in San Francisco and wrap on May 25 in Los Angeles, with Gracie Abrams and Holly Humberstone providing support on select dates.
Sour was released back in May and recently topped Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2021 list. Rodrigo also just picked up seven Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year for Sour, and Record and Song of the Year for “Drivers License.”
VIDEOS
Aesop Rock raps like not many others can and he's asking outsiders to "Send Help" for those that can't on his latest single. Well, he's not actually doing that, but he's definitely lyrically stunting on everyone on it. It's the second offering from his next thematic adventure, Black Hole Superette.
It's due out on May 30 and will try to successfully follow up on his 2023 masterclass that is Integrated Tech Solutions. This will then end his longest drought of not dropping a project in nearly a decade. From 2016 until 2019 was the length of that gap. However, he did make a soundtrack all by himself in 2017 for the film Bushwick.
The other track that Aesop Rock treated us to was "Checkers" back in early April. Black Hole Superette "delves into the invisible forces that shape our lives and psyches. It’s about the small, often overlooked moments—the everyday experiences that blur the lines between the real and the unreal, waking and sleeping."
If there's anyone who can make the mundane feel interesting and intricate, it's Aesop Rock. But as we alluded to earlier, "Send Help" feels more like one big rhyme flex. But it's done with needlepoint precision. "Pigeon on my shoulder like a goth Rio / The putdown Picasso here to un-massage the ego / I'm friend or foe depending on the content in your keynote / And not above the lobbing of a rotten tomatillo." Spin it below.
Quotable Lyrics:
Whodunnits and cozy mysteries, who stole the crypt keys
Who showed the minions to the minced meat, it was me
Hut-hut, helmet off, blitz the whole bitstream
Override the A/V in, with A/V out the in-between
IV in, one of Epi, onе of Ralph Steadman
Phoebe Judgе, EPMD, The Amazing Kreskin
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