Sour Analysis- "Hope Ur Ok"

What's the special called?

English Teacher KP

I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but have you thought about reacting to the special on Disney +?

I have heard "Matilda"! I can totally see the similarities!

English Teacher KP

The message in this song reminds me of Harry Styles’ “Matilda”. If you haven’t heard it I recommend you listen on your own if you won’t do a reaction/analysis - which I totally respect! 😊 It’s also a tear inducing song but uplifting at the same time!

Iolita Kovatchki

Agreed! I love that this is the last track! So uplifitng!

English Teacher KP

This is my absolute favorite song on the album, and it shows me that Olivia has writing chops that will keep her around for a long time to come. It’s a gorgeous song, deeply moving, wise beyond her years, and I love how it ends the album on optimism and hope. Like the speaker has finally come back to herself after this painful experience.

Thank you for mentioning the transformation piece to this, Liegette! Butterflies can absolutely be symbolic of that!

English Teacher KP

Jessica- I absolutely love this! I especially like what you say about the literal wings representing childhood innocence! Beautiful!

English Teacher KP

I agree entirely with that interpretation of it referencing the fact that she has lost touch with the subjects she is singing about. I always thought she was thinking of things she maybe wishes she could have said to certain people but didn’t, either because she lost touch or it just really wouldn’t be appropriate to address them directly, and this song is the result. I have also always thought of butterflies as being symbolic for transformation, and maybe the holes in the butterfly wings are wounds that those individuals - and the speaker - may have still carried with them even through their transformation - like when they got to leave home, or find a new family, and she’s hoping that her words of pride and love and well-wishes for what those people have made of themselves can help heal some of the holes in their butterfly wings.

Leijette Riopel

Second, the butterfly wings. Like some of the other things in this song, I think it’s a mini-extended metaphor (each verse with its own) it has an extended metaphor and one thing it’s compared to can have a double meaning, kind of, so it ends up having 3 or 4 parts. The butterfly wings I imagine includes your interpretation, but also means a literal pair of butterfly wings like you’d get a kid from the dollar store. Maybe she had a really worn out pair from childhood, with holes in it. It’s got pieces missing because it’s been so long and it went through so much. It shows the passing of time and a loss of pieces. Then consider the wings meaning her childhood innocence, and the missing pieces are gone because the individuals mentioned have come, become a piece of her, and then taking a piece of her with them when she left. She’s addressing the letters to the holes in her wings, because they represent the piece now apart of the friend.

Jessica

I have so many thoughts on this song. First of all, my first listen of it, I sobbed in my car for a solid 10 minutes, and I really wish I was over exaggerating

Jessica

It is definitely super important that this song is the last track. While it's not about the speaker, the lyrics still illustrate so much about her growth throughout the entire album. The hopeful and sincere tone is such a nice way to end!

English Teacher KP

I think this song is a good symbolic closure to the entire album. The speaker spends the whole album narrating different portions of the relationship that haunted her or how it effects her- see specially brutal and Jealously Jealousy, which aren’t about the relationship but could be interpreted as being how the relationship changed how she views the world- until this song. This song isn’t about that relationship, isn’t even about her. It’s about wishing the best for people in your past who had to endure tough times. It’s almost as if this song is saying “it’s not about you anymore” and Olivia doesn’t have any more brain space to give about that past relationship. It’s done, they’re over and now she chooses to genuinely hope the best for other people.

Ahhhhh, thank you! I was close at least 😭😭😭

English Teacher KP

I think this is great, I didnt realize she had just "said" it. I truly always thought that the "holes in my butterfly wings" was referring to the space left behind because these people were no longer active or around in her life. Like...address the letters to people who are no longer in my life but left holes behind that can't be filled. I feel like my interpretation fits, but love that it was left open to interpretation intentionally!

Amanda M.

A royal flush is a hand that is all the same suit (heart, diamond, etc.) but has an Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10. It is the highest hand you can get in poker if there are no wild cards (then 5 of a kind would be the highest). A straight flush is similar but the sequential cards are not those exact cards.

BratNDaHwz

I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing this, though! It is so touching, and I, too, am proud of your friend ❤❤❤

English Teacher KP

So cool!

English Teacher KP

Clicked on this as fast as I could! This video was wonderful, I just love that you do the full album! It's so fun to analyze something from beginning to end!! Ready for Manic! This song has grown to mean a lot to me in recent months. Gonna get a little sad and TMI for a moment, but one of my friends took their own life at 23. They were a wonderfully creative person. We grew up in religious private schools in Texas, so they faced a lot of racism and other discriminations. Despite all of that they were able to come into their own gender identity, and figure out who they were in this world before they left it. I miss them, and I'm incredibly proud of them, and the last lyrics hold so much weight "God, I hope that you're happier today. Cuz I love you, and I hope that you're okay." <3

Camila Dejesus

I’ve always loved this song😭 When Olivia was on Hot Ones she was asked about the “holes in my butterfly wings” lyric and she said she didn’t know what it meant, she just thought it sounded cool. They wanted to write something that was abstract and up for interpretation, and Sour had like a butterfly theme so it worked out perfectly

Dylan

This song is absolutely breathtaking, and it is probably tied (with Deja Vu) for my favorite song on the album. I love the expertly subtle use of details that force the reader/listener to make inferences about the “characters”. My interpretation of the boy being abused (either physically, emotionally or both) is heartbreaking; I simply can’t fathom how a parent could ever hurt their child. Moreover, the anecdote of the girl (who can’t wait to get away from a family who doesn’t support her) really resonates with me in a powerful way. I've been that girl. I think we all have “holes in [our] butterfly wings”, and I love that the words of this song have the potential to patch some of those holes... WORDS ARE POWERFUL! Those affirming words are everything, and, sometimes, we just being reminded that there is someone out there who loves us and who's proud of us. I also love that our speaker subtly acknowledges her own wounds...her own "holes in [her] butterfly wings". It's almost as if this entire album is meant as a way for the speaker to work through her issues, insecurities and past trauma. This album is her coming-of-age... her bildungsroman. And while the speaker uses a lot of verbal irony to create an angsty, bitter and sarcastic tone throughout much of the album, I love how this song reveals that the speaker is actually incredibly self-aware and open and empathetic. I like the idea that the "letter" could be an open love letter to all of those struggling...to all of us that relate to the girl or to the boy mentioned earlier in the song. The "letters" may also be meant for the speaker as well. Maybe she's anticipating letters in return (figuratively, of course). Or maybe this album is a letter to herself... a letter that has enabled her to work through all of the negativity and end with this beautiful song of hope and acceptance.

English Teacher KP