Olivia Rodrigo has insisted her new song The Cure isn’t about the band of the same name.
The 23-year-old pop star is good friends with The Cure frontman Robert Smith and even performed with him during her headline set at Glastonbury Festival last year. She released a new song called The Cure – the second track from her album You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love – on Friday (22.05.26) but she’s adamant the title isn’t a reference to the group.
During an appearance on the Elvis Duran Show on Thursday (21.05.26), Olivia explained: “Honestly, this song, ‘The Cure,’ has nothing to do with the band. Although I love it so much, it just is a happy coincidence.”
She added of the song: “It’s a new perspective that I haven’t had the maturity to express before in earlier albums.”
Olivia went on to insist she’s still close to The Cure star Robert, adding: “I love him. We talk like, every week. He’s amazing.”
Robert previously admitted he’s a genuine fan of Olivia’s music and he bought her first two albums – Sour and Guts – on CD.
He wrote to British Vogue magazine: “I bought Sour, and then Guts (both on CD!)” he wrote to the outlet. Although most of the songs on those two albums are not really ‘aimed at my demographic’ (!), they are all so good that it is hard not to fall in love with them.
“She calls me up quite a bit to talk about clothes and fashion – and we have enjoyed a couple of memorable nights in the studio together … I can’t wait to hear what she does next.”
Olivia previously admitted The Cure is one of her “favourite” songs, writing in a post on Instagram: “The Cure comes out this Friday.
“It’s my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made. couldn’t be more excited for you guys to hear it … “
It is the second single from You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love – the follow-up to 2023’s Guts – and comes after the April release of the first track Drop Dead.
Olivia drew heavily on the feelings of “jealousy” and “longing” in her first “big girl relationship” for her new album.
The 23-year-old singer – who was recently romantically linked with Geese frontman Cameron Winter, months after her two-year relationship with Louis Partridge was reported to have come to an end – revealed her third LP is “experimental” and features a number of “sad love songs”.
Speaking to Audacy Check In, she said: “I think the challenge for me was to write songs about romantic love positively.
“I think when I set out to write this album, I was really in love – sort of my first ‘big girl’ relationship – [and] writing a song about happiness is a lot harder than writing a song about heartbreak.
“It was sort of challenging myself to make a love song and also talk about some of the more negative feelings that go along with being in romantic relationships, like longing and yearning and jealousy and missing your partner when they’re away.”
The title of the record came from a conversation Olivia was having with her producer, Dan Nigro.
She explained: “I was having a conversation with my producer Dan about something and he was like, ‘Oh, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,’ just in conversation.
“I was like ‘That’s it. That’s gonna be the album title.’ I’m really happy with it. It really captures, I think, the entire thesis statement of what I was trying to do.”
Olivia will release You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love on June 12.