Olivia Rodrigo official single e-card

Olivia Rodrigo is turning out to be a fast favorite, proving that she’s more than her “Driver’s License,” as her latest single proves.

Who knew pop rock is also a good fit for Olivia Rodrigo? Just me, because only now do I realize upon hearing her new single “Bad Idea Right?” what a natural Rodrigo is as a pop-rock act.

Grooving with a Breeders-like backbeat, Olivia shines with a sweet-sounding upbeat pop song about making bad decisions about exes and not thinking correctly even though logic dictates otherwise and giving in eventually because, as Olivia says herself, ‘f*** it, it’s okay.

“Bad Idea Right” is a welcome breather from the slow to mid-tempo piano-decked songs that Rodrigo cut her teeth into when she first started. And while we very much like how Olivia sounds stylish and current as pop acts go while grappling with emotional dilemmas, e.g., “Vampire,” switching it up with a buoyant pop rocker on grappling about an emotional dilemma, while being so cavalier about it, is also a good optic (or sonic) for Olivia Rodrigo.

EZ Mil recently did Pinoys proud and perhaps made every local rapper green with envy when that photo with Eminem and Dr. Dre he posted went viral. Proud because here’s EZ Mil getting the ultimate nod and leg up when he gets signed up by Eminem’s own Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. “Podium” is EZ Mil’s first single since news broke about his association with two of American rap’s biggest icons. And this pulsing rap tune sees EZ Mil in storyteller mode about grinding and his determination to see through challenges. And there’s an air of readiness to prove himself as he goes: ‘I go walking up to the podium, let’s show them, I ain’t choking.’ 

Best of luck to EZ Mil.

‘Indie darling’ Clara Benin returns with the new song “Imposter Syndrome,” whose premise is about, you guessed it, Benin self-doubting herself. So what does she do? She writes journal entry-like lyrics to a song about how she’s second-guessing who she is and her place. Let’s put that in context: you are a singer-songwriter (one of the most popular) feeling like a hack, so you write an effervescent-sounding new tune. I think Clara Benin is precisely where she’s supposed to be and doing exactly what she’s meant to do.

Demi Lovato continues her sonic reinvention and releases a new cover of “Let Me Down Easy.” Said tune is one of the main songs from the hit Amazon Prime series ‘Daisy Jones & The Six.’ Originally performed by actors Riley Keough and Sam Clafin as their respective characters Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, “Let Me Down Easy” even sounds more like a lost Fleetwood Mac song in the hands of a solid vocalist like Demi Lovato. Check out the outro part of the song where Lovato lets it all out. Whoever said this former Disney singer-actor didn’t hear of Miley Cyrus. This is the second reimagining of a “Daisy Jones & The Six” song from the series. Earlier this year, Marcus Mumford and Maren Morris covered “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)” from their series.