Olivia Rodrigo might have been caught overtly copying Courtney Love’s aesthetic choices of late, but there was a moment in the pop ingenue’s Sour Prom—a twenty-seven-minute performance of her songs from Sour set against a prom backdrop—that very much emulated another scene from a reigning 90s queen, Madonna. Specifically the video for “Drowned World/Substitute for Love.” Directed by Walter Stern, known for his work with The Prodigy and Massive Attack, Madonna infused the surrealism of fame within the “manga-eyed” faces of those at the party she feels ultimately forced to attend. Out of a sense of obligation to “putting in an appearance.”
A sentiment not unlike the one attached to prom: perhaps the most pressure-laden event of one’s high school career other than the whole “should I cheat my way into college?” question. And, like Madonna feeling obligated to go to this soirée in the video, Rodrigo, too, feels it’s her duty as a teenager, even if an already famous one, to go to “prom” (just like Christina Aguilera did, only to have everyone clear the dance floor when “Genie in a Bottle” was played)—or rather, pay homage to it by filming a concert themed around the concept.
Because most are conditioned to believe that it’s something of an end all, be all moment in one’s life, the event itself can only be doomed to be a letdown (unless, of course, you live inside of a high school movie). Kind of like what happens when a person at last achieves their longstanding goal of fame, only to be rudely awakened by the internal echoing of the platitude, “Be careful what you wish for” (Britney already seemed to hear it when she released “Lucky”). For Madonna, it took a bit longer to be wholly disappointed by the trappings of fame, for she is very much someone who wanted to fill the void inside of herself with public adulation. And it only seemed to take until the mid-90s, with the birth of her daughter, Lourdes, to finally realize just how empty this “celebrity” thing really was. Not to say she doesn’t still very much enjoy public adulation and the perks of fame (like getting an entire hotel to shut down for you)—as evidenced by her recent clinging to NYC glory days. But she knows better than to put all of her stock in it now.
Rodrigo, while in the midst of singing the fourth song in the setlist, “jealousy jealousy,” is at her most Madonna-esque in terms of mimicking a specific shot from “Drowned World/Substitute for Love.” Getting a little too “heated” as the performer onstage for the prom, her energy apparently incites the crowd to proceed grabbing at her indiscriminately (in a manner likely intended to embody the feeling of what it’s like to be famous, and everyone wanting a piece of you—ergo the Britney track, “Piece of Me”). It all becomes too much, just as it does for Madonna when she is similarly grabbed at the Claridge’s Hotel in London.
The presaging to this Madonna moment already happened at the outset of Sour Prom, with Olivia getting into the back of a limo and looking as ennui-laden as Madonna in the back of hers while being driven to the hotel. Singing “happier” with interpolations of “deja vu,” Rodrigo’s nerves and anxiety are more ramped up than the ones exhibited by Madonna in her chauffeured car. After all, M is a seasoned pro at being disappointed by humanity, whereas Rodrigo is still just learning the extent of the fame monster’s hunger. Prom being merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of mirroring the pressures and anxieties that amplify with fame. Though prom is a nice starter kit to getting a taste of those feelings, and the endless butterflies that come with the buildup and anticipation (hence, Rodrigo’s use of many paper butterfly decorations). The “excitement” soon more overshadowed by a sense of dread.
Which is quite possibly why, after being pawed at by the crowd, Rodrigo suddenly becomes awash in the embarrassment of being violated as she instinctively bolts for the nearest exit, the same way Madonna does when the clawing at her person becomes too unbearable as well. Each woman runs out into a hallway that leads into some ephemeral “safe haven.” In Rodrigo’s case, it’s the photo lab, where she’s wont to perform “enough for you.” Madonna, on the other hand, is just trying to maintain a shred of her faith in the human species, smiling at a maid she foolishly thinks won’t fuck her over because the proletariat is often assumed to be kinder. But no, the maid snaps a photo (just happening to have a disposable camera at the ready perhaps solely because she caught wind of Madonna arriving at the hotel). Betraying Madonna’s brief trust (like Olivia bemoans on “traitor,” “You betrayed me”) for the sake of a “memento.” But to Madonna, it’s just another piece of her soul snapped away by a camera. Like she said on “Joan of Arc,” “Each time they take a photograph/I lose a part I can’t get back.”
Rodrigo has a longer way to go before that happens, though Sour Prom was already likely soured for her in some way by Courtney Love’s rightful callout regarding the promotional still’s similarity to the cover of Live Through This. It seems appropriate that the opening frame to Madonna’s “Drowned World/Substitute For Love” video is a scene of hyenas ravaging a carcass on TV. Madonna turns it off before heading out the door to experience her own form of that. Rodrigo will soon know the extent of the metaphor as well. But, for now, thanks to the baby step of a “prom experience,” she seems to collect herself a bit more after her photo lab therapy performance to then sing “drivers license” in a manner reminiscent of the final scene in season one of Euphoria, when Rue finds herself on the street doing a choreographed dance to Labrinth’s “All For Us.”
The finale to her prom, “good 4 u,” ends on a football field with, to Beyoncé’s chagrin, a marching band with some cheerleaders peppered in. Madonna, a former cheerleader herself, also knows the value of a good marching band to back up a song, as she evidenced on 2012’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’” performance during the MDNA Tour. And so, in more ways than expected, even “rock”-oriented Rodrigo managed to pull inspiration (whether subconscious or not) from some of Madonna’s more esoteric career moments. Madonna, a long-time “curator” in her own work, likely won’t point this out on her social media à la Love. She already knows that fame itself is punishment enough.
