While Olivia Rodrigo has built a career on capturing the raw intensity of heartbreak, her perspective is shifting. Known for the chart-topping brilliance of Sour and Guts, the pop sensation is now navigating the unfamiliar territory of a serious, long-term romance, which serves as the primary inspiration for her third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, arriving June 12.

In a recent Audacy Check In interview, Rodrigo admitted that shifting her songwriting focus from post-breakup trauma to the nuances of a flourishing relationship proved to be a unique hurdle. “The real challenge was finding a way to articulate romantic love with positivity,” she shared.

“Stepping into my first ‘big girl’ relationship changed my creative process,” she continued. “Capturing happiness in music is surprisingly more difficult than documenting pain. I wanted to explore the complexities that come with being in love—the lingering sense of longing, the occasional spike of jealousy, and that heavy ache you feel when your partner is miles away.”

Though she remained discreet regarding her partner, rumors have linked the singer to actor Louis Partridge since late 2023. This upcoming project leans into what she previously described to British Vogue as “sad love songs”—a collection that reconciles the joy of connection with the inherent vulnerability that accompanies it.

“I used to think that finding a great partner would solve all my internal insecurities and that everything would suddenly fall into place,” she told the publication. “But life just doesn’t work that way.”

You can catch the full, candid conversation in the Audacy Check In video above.