<\/p>\n
\n\tAll right \u2014 now <\/em>you\u2019re ready for Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>\u2018s third album.<\/p>\n \n\tNot that the first single from the LP, \u201cDrop Dead,\u201d didn\u2019t properly prime her audience for what\u2019s coming. It wouldn\u2019t have debuted at No. 1 if it didn\u2019t do a sufficient job of creating expectancy; several other equally big pop ladies have recently flopped with equally high-profile comeback songs, proving that Rodrigo didn\u2019t return on top strictly on the basis of name value. But \u201cDrop Dead\u201d felt like a deliberate outlier song, testing the waters to see whether her audience would accept Rodrigo in a chipper mood. They did, but that didn\u2019t mean the fans didn\u2019t still want Rodrigo to go sour on them again.<\/p>\n \n\tSo the album\u2019s second single, \u201cThe Cure,\u201d is a heck of a wish-granter. It\u2019s the kind of preview track that lets you know that chances will be taken but you\u2019ll still get sufficient quantities of what you came to the party for, which, in this case, is something reasonably wrenching. Among the licenses Rodrigo has collected since her debut five years ago is a permit to get completely dramatic on us, and she and her collaborator Dan Nigro<\/a> go down that road here, deliciously, with a stirring ong that manages to make new tricks feel like their best old ones.<\/p>\n