– Goonja Basu, Staff Writer
In June, Olivia Rodrigo celebrated extreme joy and extreme sadness with the release of her third studio album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. Shortly after the album came out, Rodrigo announced that she would fulfill her dream of creating and hosting a festival, Daisy Chain Fields, where 100% of the net proceeds went to charities. To celebrate the event and its meaning, “advancing and advocating for [the betterment of] women and girls,” Rodrigo released “serena joy” five days before the show took place in Irvine, California.
In Relation to The Handmaid’s Tale
The name “Serena Joy” is in reference to the titular character in Margaret Atwood’s 1985 classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Serena Joy, the character, is a Wife in the book, the highest class of women, married to the ruling class of Commanders. Joy believes her station above the titular Handmaid allows her to be untouchable and in control of her life.
Rodrigo, though she never says the name in the song, uses Serena Joy to represent the conservative women in our society — notably those who voted the current president into office or are against abortion — those who put down the rights of other women. In the novel, Serena Joy initiates an affair between Offred (the Handmaid) and her Guardian, believing that she has outsmarted the surveillance state and dictatorial patriarchy. By the end, however, she is outraged, confused, and has brought shame to the family’s name, the dooming factor in that society.
“serena joy” calls out every woman who believes they are bettering the world by oppressing minorities, because they are deluding themselves if they believe that they are not a part of that class. Rodrigo’s use of imagery as she describes the women “rotting in the sunshine” both mocks and foreshadows the subject’s future, saying it is “what you get, what you get, what you get.”
About Rodrigo’s Outspoken History
From the start of her career, Rodrigo has been outspoken about her political beliefs and taken action for change in the world. After the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was released in 2022, Rodrigo took to the stage at Glastonbury Festival with Lily Allen, in front of thousands of people, and sung Allen’s song “F*ck You,” dedicated to the Supreme Court. The GUTS World Tour of 2023 was launched in conjunction with Rodrigo’s Fund 4 Good, a play on her song “good 4 you.” The fund was a “global initiative committed to building an equitable and just future for all women, girls and people seeking reproductive health freedom.”
In terms of “serena joy,” Rodrigo announced on social media that a portion of all net proceeds of the song go to the Daisy Chains Field Fund, continuing in her commitment to make the future a better place and easier to navigate for underprivileged women. She performed the song for the first time at Daisy Chains Field Fund, encouraging the audience to “give it a spin” to aid in the collection of proceeds. We encourage you to do the same.
Sing Along, Sing Along
With synths and a hard bassline, the rhythm brings a Y2K nostalgia, offset by the vocal distortion that Rodrigo uses. The autotune-like filter over her voice invokes the dystopian setting where her titular character lives in The Handmaid’s Tale. With the juxtaposition of the beat and vocals, Rodrigo creates a warning for what is coming to the women she directs the song towards.
The repetition she uses of certain phrases (come in close, come along, sing along) echoes the women’s indoctrination, the belief that if they go along with whatever systematic oppression the government tries to subjugate upon citizens. Rodrigo hammers her point in with her lyric “If they do it to them / they’re gonna do it to you,” repeated similarly as with previous phrases.
The most notable lyric in the song comes right at the end of the second verse, singing, “Look, the life of your dreams / is beyond that cliff.” Rodrigo makes a reference to the 1991 cult classic, Thelma & Louise, who (spoiler alert) fly off a cliff to their deaths by the end of the movie. As outlaws to the entire nation, the women’s only feasible choice for freedom is to commit suicide. It allows the audience to fear what is in their futures.
The last few lines of the song are a reiteration of the phrase “everything is just fine,” as the music beat crescendoes, becoming more and more foreboding. The final lyric echoes when the beat cuts off, giving the listener a chilling effect: listen and take action, or they’ll do it to you.
