brutal

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Following the minor success of "All I Want" (2019), Olivia Rodrigo signed with Geffen Records, intending to release a debut EP in 2021. After the widespread success of her debut single "Drivers License" (released January 8, 2021), she decided to make a full-length studio album instead. On April 13, 2021, Rodrigo announced the title of her debut album, Sour, and its track listing, revealing "Brutal" as track one. The song was released with a lyric video alongside the album on May 21, 2021. It was released to Italian contemporary hit radio through Universal Music Italy on September 3, 2021, as the fifth single. The song resents the idea that one's teenage years are the best years and shares a sentiment of teenage frustration. It was written on a whim by Rodrigo and producer Dan Nigro. "Brutal" features a guitar riff similar in cadence and identical in key to Elvis Costello's 1978 song "Pump It Up", leading to accusations of plagiarism. Costello defended Rodrigo, stating: "This is fine by me ... It's how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand-new toy. That's what I did." In 2026, Costello doubled down, describing the accusations as "too silly to talk about" and noting he had since met Rodrigo, describing her as "lovely".

In Their Own Story

The music video for "Brutal" was released on August 23, 2021, directed by Canadian director Petra Collins. The video features cameo appearances from actors Lukas Gage and Nico Hiraga, as well as model Salem Mitchell. It opens in a "glitchy, throwback dimension", where an array of Rodrigo avatars appear, each adorning a stylized wig and exaggerated personality; an 8-bit version of "Brutal" plays in the background. One costume references Leeloo from the 1997 movie and 1998 video game The Fifth Element. It is a "choose-your-player" selection, channeling Adobe Flash web games of the early 2000s. A cursor clicks on Rodrigo dressed in a pastel blue ballet outfit, before changing to a scene where she squirms on a ballet studio floor after breaking her ankle while trying to perform en pointe. It is followed by scenes such as anchoring a morning news program, a dull high school classroom, crying on an Instagram Livestream, a stressed-out pop star shooting a commercial, and being physically dragged through an abandoned Westfield Santa Anita by "two real friends". Right after the line "I can't even parallel park", the music stops briefly and Rodrigo is stuck in a crowded mall parking lot with cars beeping and she mouths the words "What the fuck". Near the end, Rodrigo climbs to the top of a Cadillac while the lyric "and God, I don't even know where to start" plays. The video concludes with her standing on the car, with a set of ballet dancers performing en pointe, while surrounded by other cars loudly beeping.

Reader's Guide

To fully appreciate "Brutal", start with the album Sour, where it appears as track one. The song was written by Rodrigo and Dan Nigro, who also produced it. It has been described as pop and rock in the styles of alternative rock, emo-punk, grunge, pop-punk, and pop rock, with elements of indie rock, punk, and riot grrrl. The track features a guitar riff similar to Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up", which Costello himself defended. The music video, directed by Petra Collins, incorporates heavy visual elements from the 1990s–2000s, especially the era's video games, while illustrating teenage angst. Commercially, the song reached the top 20 in various countries. In the United States, it landed at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Entertainment Weekly called "Brutal" the best song of 2021, describing it as "like stepping through a Lollapalooza looking glass, the alt-nation swagger and blown-out guitar fuzz of the Breeders and Elastica reborn in one dimpled Gen-Z teen." The music video received two nominations at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards for "Video of the Year" and "Best Editing".

Did You Know?

• "Brutal" was released to Italian radio on September 3, 2021 as the fifth and final single from Sour.
• The song's guitar riff is identical in key to Elvis Costello's 1978 song "Pump It Up", which Costello defended as "how rock and roll works."
• The music video features a reference to Leeloo from the 1997 movie and 1998 video game The Fifth Element.
• Entertainment Weekly named "Brutal" the best song of 2021.
• The music video received two nominations at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards for "Video of the Year" and "Best Editing".