The production of the track is very catchy, simple yet fits the lyrics well. Its upbeat, pop/soft rock feel makes it a great candidate for “song of the summer,” and the chorus has that quality that makes a song stuck in your head. They aren’t very predictable lines, yet they’re very relatable, grounded, and capture that dreamy state that Rodrigo wants to convey in the song.

The beginning of the song is misleading in the best way. Rodrigo starts out with very blue lyrics and piano chords, before building up in the first chorus with an almost yearning state, then, cutting off the tension with the transition to a song structure similar to drop dead with an upbeat sound. Then on, she uses the same chorus and imagery with many metaphors to describe how much this state of being in love is affecting her, switching from different tones, while still using the same lines. The more you listen to the song, the more it builds up adrenaline and excitement.

As more of a slow paced, ballad-style song, honeybee is a classic love song. The production with backing vocals (including Conan Grey, Dan Nigro, and Lily Elise), strings, and piano, paints an ethereal and vulnerable image. The lyrics are very admiring and, if you look into them enough, carry a fear of loss. You see this in lines like “…I hope to never see what your face looks like going…’” more obviously, and the repetition of the phrase “…here’s to hopin’.” A more notable line throughout the song is “…even when I’m quiet, I love you baby, I promise,” which changes in the last chorus to silence the “…I love you baby…” part. This intentional shift, symbolizes the doubt creeping into the promise, dropping the affirming words, with that promise hanging empty and the doubts starting to make the singer overthink.

Circling back to using an upbeat, almost video-game-sounding, pop feel, the fourth track of the album has an almost musical-lyrical dissonance. The theme throughout the song, describes a feeling of pointlessness or “feeling rotten” when their lover is not around. While seeming like an exaggerated, longing portrayal of loving someone to such extents that you wish you were with them all the time, the constant negative descriptions of the state without their lover present hints at a problem of attachment, dependability, and the problems in the relationship inflating to the surface more and more, even if packaged as just love. That dissonance between the lyrics and the production, reflects the personal conflict that the narrator faces, where they haven’t realised yet that this might be a problem.

With a more 2000s, “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift sound, u+me=<3 sounds like a more “young love” type of song, with the lyrics seeming youthful and carefree. The wording choices, such as “I think that you’re killer,” and the line with the title of the song, supports this kind of setting it’s trying to convey. This could be in order to represent how love makes people feel young, or it could suggest that since the doubts started surfacing in the previous track, the narrator is trying to go back to that feeling of the relationship in the beginning stages like with drop dead.

My way is a call-out to an ex-girlfriend to the narrator’s lover, who starts interfering and provoking the narrator by writing letters and taking pictures. Rodrigo brings back her SOUR and GUTS era, with rage filled lyrics, putting across the point that things are going her way from now on as she is the one who is in the relationship with her lover, and not the ex. Although a typical song for Rodrigo, the track is rated on the slightly lower side for the only reason being that, while it fits in chronological order of the events, it seems out of place for the “so in love section.”

This bittersweet seventh track is the turning point of the first and second part of the album, transitioning into the “so sad” part. The symbolism behind Rodrigo’s choice of words and phrases is interpreted as love in the right music accompanying it, however, by themselves the words suggest an attachment that is almost too strong to the lover, with the lines “…melt together…” and “I had big dreams ‘til I tied myself to you.” By the end of the song, we see the narrator realize that the relationship has gone wrong, with the melody changing to more insecure and questioning along with the lyrics, with lines such as “Melt with you ’til it all turns black, Are we so in love, Are we too attached?”

The album now transitions completely to the sad section, as Rodrigo shares the issues with the relationship straightforwardly for the first time, describing feeling insecure, anxious, and wrong, hoping that the love would save her, yet it is not enough. The guitar and the rushed chords give the feeling of tapping your fingers or bouncing your leg, building up tension and anxiety until it slows down in the chorus, which breaks down into desperate calls for wanting it to work, but knowing that it feels wrong. The raw lyrics, imagery, and forced volume out of desperation, are unlike anything from the start of the album, and paint a picture of why the relationship is struggling behind the love.

As a slow guitar song, begged has a very powerful chorus which contrasts with the otherwise calmer and sad lyrics, turning into a yearning cry for understanding without that need of constant communication. Her constant metaphors really accentuate her feelings of wanting her lover to assure her that he is loyal to her, and that need for understanding beyond words, with phrases like “I’m a penny in a fountain, Just waiting on my luck to change.” The track feels very lonely by itself, with only Rodrigo’s singing, her voice layering in ad libs, and her guitar, also painting that picture of feeling unsure and lonely in the relationship itself.

What’s wrong with me is a historic track for Rodrigo. It is her first featured song recorded with vocals from the legend himself, Robert Smith, the lead singer of The Cure. The sad lyrics depict a depressive feeling of constant struggle and hurting without recognizable cause, with the chorus revealing that cause to be the lover. The singers’ voices overlap beautifully in the chorus, with Rodrigo’s more soft, sad and sweet sound and Smith’s more uneven, light, melancholic voice perfectly depicting the depressive image of realizing what is actually wrong in the relationship.

An absolutely heartwrenching track, less is one of the more personal songs in the album, where the narrator expresses her deep hurt in the failed relationship and still not wanting it to end. The piano song accompanies the lyrics softly and goes to a minor chord after the end of the chorus, making the song even more heartbreaking. The desperation in the song is highlighted mainly by the theme around her wishing for her boyfriend to love her less if loving her meant letting her go. This beautiful track depicts the end of her relationship.

This track is the ‘my way’ of the so sad section of the album in the sense of it being a little off-putting in placement. Chronologically it makes perfect sense as it talks about growing and developing expectations for future relationships. However, the song disrupts the continuous flow of reflective, sorrowful tracks in a more upbeat, pop sound. By itself, it is a very good track, showing her the development in maturity and how she recognizes her values enough to raise her standards in who she talks to. Although not as deep as the others in its section, its catchy music and chorus make for a strong track.

Arguably the most heartbreaking track in the album, cigarette smoke is a reflection of the relationship itself. Almost unpredictably, Rodrigo shows regret for even starting the relationship, talking about being so hurt from her lover’s actions that she wishes she could have that time back.  She uses the line “tell me something honest so the memories turn dark,” to show wanting to move on from that part of her life and erase all the good memories by overcoming them with the truth. The metaphor of cigarette smoke sticking with her, being the failed relationship, and still affecting her life. The “bone dry, bitter and hollow” line is not only sung in such a painful way, but the lyrics are meant to be the opposite of the ones describing the relationship in honeybee. Instead of sweet and peaceful, the memories of the relationship are bitter and hurting. An absolute masterpiece of a track with beautiful imagery built at the start of the song of the emptiness after the lover’s leave, and powerful vocals, cigarette smoke is one of the best songs in this album.

Let us know what you thought of the new album in the comments below!