Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” is a full throttle power ballad
Switched on Pop
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The Driver's License - A Power Ballad
The song uses some very creative phrasings to create a sense of suspense. Each verse is seven bars long, with six lines of vocals followed by one bar of rest. It's as if she is being interrupted by her own it's brilliant pulp song writing,. O wait, this is fascinating. How many measures is the verse? Again? Typically we would expect eight but here it's actually just seven. There's a subdly disorienting effect. You don't sarily clock it when you're not listeningo to the song because it's very effective.
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