"Brutal" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo. It was released to Italian radio on September 3, 2021, through Geffen Records, as the fifth single from Rodrigo's debut album, Sour (2021). "Brutal" was written by Rodrigo and Dan Nigro, and produced by the latter.
An alternative rock, grunge, and pop-punk tune, "Brutal" is driven by rock instrumentation consisting of brash electric guitars and drums. Its lyrics express Rodrigo's fear, worries and frustrations as a teenager entering adulthood.[citation needed] An accompanying music video to the song was released on August 23, 2021. It incorporates heavy visual elements from the 1990s–2000s, especially the era's video games, while illustrating "teen angst". Commercially, the song reached the top 20 in various countries. In the United States, it landed at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
Alongside the release of her second single "Deja Vu" on April 1, 2021, Rodrigo announced that her debut studio album, under the placeholder title *O*R, would be released on May 21.[3] On April 13, Rodrigo announced the cover art and announced the title of her debut studio album Sour. Together with the announcement, the track listing was announced, and "Traitor" was revealed to appear as track two on Sour.[4] The song was released with a lyric video alongside the album on May 21, 2021.[5] It was also released to Italian contemporary hit radio formats through Universal Music Italy on September 3, 2021, as the fifth single from the album.[6]
"Brutal" is one of eleven songs from Olivia Rodrigo's debut album Sour. The song resents the idea that one's teenage years are the best years and shares a sentiment of teenage frustration.[7] It was written on a whim by Rodrigo and song's producer Dan Nigro.[8] It has been described as a pop-punk,[9]pop rock,[10]alt-rock,[11] and grunge[12] song with elements of indie rock and punk.[13][14]
"Brutal" features a guitar riff similar to that of Elvis Costello's 1978 song "Pump It Up", leading to accusations of plagiarism.[15][16][17] Costello—who cited Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as inspiration for "Pump It Up"—replied to a tweet about the topic, "This is fine by me ... It's how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand-new toy. That's what I did."[18]
Reception
Brutal received positive reviews from critics. Billboard's Larisha Paul described "Brutal"'s opening as "shimmering" and "brilliant", and the rest of the song as "grungy rock".[19] Jules Lefevre, writing for Junkee, described the song as "infinitely enjoyable", and described Rodrigo's vocals as "kiss-off".[9]Rolling Stone's Angie Martoccio likened Rodrigo in the song to "an excited teenager relaying gossip on a rotary phone".[20] Olivia Horn of Pitchfork speculated on whether "Brutal" is "[b]ucking expectations about the kind of sounds [Rodrigo] might gravitate toward" and describes that as just "part of the fun".[21]AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares called "Brutal" "a surprisingly punky blast of angst", likening the guitars to "the musical equivalent of an eyeroll."[22]
A music video for "Brutal" was released on August 23, 2021, directed by Canadian director Petra Collins.[25] The video features cameo appearances from actors Lukas Gage and Nico Hiraga, as well as model Salem Mitchell.[26] Rodrigo's hairstyles in the video were styled by Clayton Hawkins.[27] The video depicts Rodrigo's "teenage angst",[28] using various visual elements of 1990s-2000s pop culture.[26] As of October 2023, the music video has amassed more than 52 million views on YouTube.[29]Vogue described the video as a "visual treat" and a compendium of "Y2K beauty", incorporating various looks that marked the 1990s-2000s era, alongside "playfully brash rebellion".[27]Vulture and Insider noted similarities to Rina Sawayama's music video for "XS" (2020).[30][31]
A still from "Brutal" music video, showing a video game interface consisting of various avatars of Rodrigo.
It opens in a "glitchy, throwback dimension", where an array of Rodrigo avatars appear, each adorning a stylized wig and exaggerated personality; an 8-bit version of "Brutal" plays in the background. One of the costumes is a reference to Leeloo from the 1997 movie and 1998 video game The Fifth Element.[27] It is a "choose-your-player" selection, channeling Adobe Flashweb games of the early 2000s.[32] The various attires Rodrigo adopts in the video include a slicked ballet bun, plaitedpigtails with a newsboy cap, low-slung space twists reminiscent of Mandy Moore's "Candy" music video, and two partial pigtails with wavy brunette and burgundy hair.[27] A cursor clicks on Rodrigo dressed in a pastel blue ballet outfit and a matching wig, before changing to a scene where she squirms on a ballet studio floor after breaking her ankle while trying to perform en pointe. It is followed by scenes such as anchoring an oddly vivacious morning news program with gossip (whose logo is the same as the 1990s logo for UK news program News at Ten), a dull high school classroom, crying on an Instagram Livestream, a stressed-out pop star shooting a commercial, and being physically dragged through an abandoned Westfield Santa Anita by "two real friends", among others.[33][32] Right after the line "I can't even parallel park", the music stops briefly and Rodrigo is stuck in the crowded mall parking lot with cars beeping and she mouthes the words "What the fuck". Near the end of the video, Rodrigo climbs to the top of a Cadillac while the lyric "and God, I don't even know where to start" plays. The video concludes with her standing in the car, with a set of ballet dancers performing en pointe, while surrounded by other cars loudly beeping.[32]
^Polacek, Scott (September 1, 2021). "HBO 'Hard Knocks' 2021: Best Cowboys Storylines, Moments, Reaction for Episode 4". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 20, 2022. There's a reason HBO chose Olivia Rodrigo's hit song Brutal as something of a soundtrack for Tuesday's episode of Hard Knocks chronicling training camp for the Dallas Cowboys. After all, America's Team was dealing with a number of challenges, which were all on full display in the fourth episode of the season.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 202121 into search. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 202121 into search. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
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