Ever since Olivia Rodrigo dropped her debut album Sour, “Brutal” cemented its status as one of the fan-favorite songs. After months of anticipation, the 18-year-old singer finally gave us a music video we’ve all been waiting for, and it perfectly captures the song’s brutally honest lyrics.
“Brutal” sees Rodrigo joining forces with Petra Collins, who previously directed the music video for “Good 4 U”. They both have a similar rebellious vibe and pay homage to Y2K beauty and fashion, with multiple stylish hair and wardrobe changes.
“Brutal” served as the opener of Rodrigo’s debut album Sour, but that wasn’t the initial plan. She wrote it two weeks before turning the record in and decided to use it as the opening track because it’s one of her favorite songs.
“I think it sounds really unique, and I love the songwriting of it—I think it really represents my teenage years very well. I really wanted to put it as the opening track. Everyone was like, ‘Olivia, are you sure you want to that? It’s kind of weird,’ and I was like, ‘Love it. I wanna do it,'” the singer told Zach Sang.
Following the release of Sour on May 21st, “Brutal” found significant success on the charts and peaked at no. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.