Olivia Rodrigo and the second verse massacre

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Commentary, Music, Music Interviews, Music History

4.6 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Olivia Rodrigo's chart-topping new single "drop dead," the lead single from her forthcoming third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, breaks one of pop's oldest rules by abandoning the traditional second verse and replacing it with something entirely new. From Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" to Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" and Chappell Roan's "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl," a growing wave of today's biggest pop stars are ditching the verse-chorus formula listeners have been trained to expect for decades. Rodrigo didn't invent the second-verse switch-up, but on "drop dead" she may have just killed off the predictable second verse for good. Songs Discussed Frank Zappa "Charlene" Olivia Rodrigo "drop dead" The Cure "Just Like Heaven" Jean-Baptiste Lully "The Tragey of Armide" Ryan Brown conducting Opera Lafayette Olivia Rodrigo "drivers license" Olivia Rodrigo "good 4 u" Olivia Rodrigo "vampire" Olivia Rodrigo "ballad of a homeschooled girl" Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire — Patricia Kopatchinskaja Mariah Carey "Fantasy" (ft. Ol' Dirty Bastard) Blackstreet "No Diggity" (ft. Dr. Dre, Queen Pen) Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up" (ft. Kate Bush) Kendrick Lamar, SZA "luther" Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars "Die With a Smile" Post Malone, Swae Lee "Sunflower" HUNTR/X "Golden" Joshua Bassett, Olivia Rodrigo "Start of Something New" Matt Cornett, Olivia Rodrigo "What I've Been Looking For" Olivia Rodrigo "All I Want" The Avett Brothers "I and Love and You" Sheryl Crow "Strong Enough" Sabrina Carpenter "Please Please Please" Sabrina Carpenter "Manchild" Chappell Roan "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl" Chappell Roan "HOT TO GO!" Chappell Roan "Red Wine Supernova" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Odu.
0:03.0	Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other?
0:09.7	Introducing Odu, it's the only business software you'll ever need.
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0:31.1	So why not you?
0:32.4	Try O-D-Frey at O-D-O-O-O-O-com.
0:35.4	That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com. That's ODOO.com.
0:40.6	Support for this show comes from Limpi,
0:42.4	the Lola Hammer Institute of Music Production and Industries.
0:45.2	It's a one-year program in Norway,
0:46.7	built by hit songwriters,
0:47.9	where you learn music the way music actually gets made.
0:50.9	In the studio, every day,
0:52.4	alongside the people doing it professionally. Lumpy believes
0:55.2	classrooms don't create artists, studio sessions do. So rather than pitch you Limpi, I want to introduce
0:59.8	you to one of their graduates, a producer songwriter who's written songs for Tate McCray
1:03.8	and K-pop groups. Hi, I'm Gucci Calliante. I'm from Norway. For Gucci, the dream started very
1:09.0	early. Everything started after I watched School of Rock.
1:12.8	I was just like, this is what I want to do with my life.
1:15.3	She's just a kid.
	...

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