Olivia Rodrigo's Third Album Draws Heavily on The Cure, Featuring Robert Smith Duet
Olivia Rodrigo released her third studio album, 'You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,' on June 13, 2026, featuring a duet with The Cure's Robert Smith. The album marks a notable artistic shift, weaving postpunk and goth sonic references throughout its 13 tracks alongside Rodrigo's established pop-confessional style. The release signals a maturing artistic identity for one of pop's biggest young stars, as she draws on a broader range of influences than her previous work.
Olivia Rodrigo's third album, 'You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,' arrived Friday and features The Cure's Robert Smith as the first guest on any Rodrigo album, duetting on the track 'What's Wrong With Me.' The collaboration is part of a broader goth and new wave influence running through the record, with direct lyrical references to The Cure on the opening single 'Drop Dead' and a track simply titled 'The Cure.' Rodrigo and Smith previously performed together at Glastonbury last summer, and she has publicly credited her father — who has seen The Cure approximately 30 times — as a conduit for that influence. The album spans 13 tracks and 51 minutes, longer than her previous two records, and critics note it balances the darker, postpunk aesthetic against the Swiftian pop-confessional mode that has defined her career since her 2021 debut 'Sour,' which recently became the first album by any female artist to reach 17 billion Spotify streams. Smith has said he has been a fan of Rodrigo since 'Drivers License' and purchased both her previous albums on CD. The album's tone was reportedly shaped in part by a breakup during the writing and recording process, prompting Rodrigo and producer Dan Nigro to revise some tracks to make them 'more honest and more sad and creepy.'
What's missing
The article does not include chart performance data or first-week streaming/sales figures for the new album, nor does it provide critical reception beyond this single review.
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She Might Be Our Biggest Twentysomething Pop Star. Her New Album Is Most Indebted to … a Goth Gen X Icon?
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