Released on March 25th, 2022

Produced by: Disney +

Rating: 4/5

Teen pop-sensation Olivia Rodrigo’s documentary, Driving Home 2 U, details the journey of writing her smash-hit debut album, Sour. Streaming on Disney+ starting on March 25th, the film is everything a fan could want to feel like they know their favorite artist a little bit better. 

The documentary includes renditions of all the songs featured on Sour, but more stripped down and raw than we’ve ever seen her. Rodrigo’s performances throughout the film shows what an incredibly talented performer she is.

One of the best performances was Happier, where she stripped down her own vocals and gave it acoustic background instrumentals. She showcased her voice fully and honestly, making the Driving Home 2 U rendition better than the original.

In addition to the audio, the backgrounds of her performances were intriguing and new. Seeing where the artist herself would place her music if given the chance was incredibly visually satisfying and made it feel like we were getting a true window into her soul. From gas stations to abandoned airplanes, Rodrigo proved that she could be a performer with her own style anywhere. It definitely gives high hopes for her upcoming tour starting later this month. 

But the documentary isn’t all about the music; Rodrigo details all the attention her music, especially the single Drivers License, received right after its release. At only 18, the pressure she was facing from the media, in addition to the initial heartbreak pain that caused her to write the single, was intense and suffocating at times. She dealt with a lot of anxiety over how the public would perceive her image and the music she was putting out after the initial success. Even though we know now that all of that worry was for nothing because Sour was a record-smashing and now award-winning album, hearing her thought processes successfully establishes Rodrigo as a real and relatable person.

Her creative process is especially interesting to watch unravel because of her young age; she is incredibly relatable and down-to-earth throughout all of the attention herself and her music receive. And if the goal of this film was to show the behind-the-scenes of a successful artist and make people like her more, the production team definitely succeeded. 

The last note is for the cinematography of the documentary as well; it was very 90s meets rustic and played into how she grew up in Utah and now lives in California. We’ll have to wait and see if they release any of the renditions of the songs featured on Apple Music or Spotify… maybe closer to the first tour date?

Driving Home 2 U is a fascinating look at a successful and talented but ultimately normal teenager whose life blew up with the release of a single song that meant the world to her.

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