All lower case instead of Billie Eilish’s all caps. Is capitalization the next cultural battle of this generation? I just need to know so I can get onboard the train.

OK, this one is a year old now, but thanks to Rodrigo’s ongoing tour it’s still been all over the mainstream, plus I already listened to it and I’m not turning back now. It’s new enough and it’s totally new to me, so we’re going with it.

If T Swift is reinventing the blues for today’s generation, it feels like Rodrigo is trying to reinvent punk-pop. That’s not to say that true punk aficionados will recognize their favorite music except a surface-level resemblance here and there, but that’s why I called it a reinvention. It’s got totally different input energy than the punk of old, but it’s undeniably filtered through the punk vibe filter - a little angry and a little unserious and totally over the bullshit.

Her influences seem to be everywhere - “Making the Bed” could be a Taylor Swift B-side, and “Logical” sounds, complete with the “s” pronounced “sh”, like “it wash all in my mind. She sounds like a major music fan inspired by her favorites and making these songs as an homage to them. Great reason to make music, if you ask me. She also has a weird country-lite song just like Carpenter, which is an interesting trend. Are pop stars starting to be country-curious again? Or is this just another tribute to a favorite artist of Rodrigo’s youth? It’s hard to tell, but somehow even with the varied influences, this still feels like a relatively confident and cohesive album.

From the roundup Jamwise #45 - Special Edition: 2024's Chart-Topping Albums.