How Olivia Rodrigo’s “the cure” Points to the Gospel

The sensational pop musician Olivia Rodrigo has just released a new album, and with it comes more crushing ballads of heartbreak and sorrow. Though, as a byproduct, she actually shows why the things of this life, even true love, cannot satisfy the soul. And, inadvertently, Rodrigo points people toward Jesus and the gospel. Today, we’ll look at one of her most popular new tracks, the cure.

The Disease

“The cure” begins its first lyrics identifying the disease that has riddled the singer. It is clear from the lines that this disease is not a physical ailment (something like cancer or pneumonia) but rather an intangible one. This is a disease that has taken over her mind. It starts:

All the pretty girls

In the foreground of my mind

I thought I'd done enough

But they keep moving the line

The narrator is plagued by something all too common no matter one’s religion, that is, being lost without true identity or fulfillment. They say comparison is the thief of joy and that is clearly exhibited here. From the outset we get the picture of a girl who is doing whatever she can to be accepted amongst her pretty peers, a feeling that is well known to most. And although she keeps trying, it seems she can never reach the finish line. She can never say "I did enough", because there is always more to do, whether it is be better, prettier, funnier, smarter, kinder, etc. At 23 years old, Rodrigo puts great imagery to a reality that haunts the majority of youth today.

I believe Gen Z (those born between the years 1997-2012) does something that past generations have neglected in that they are much more introspective than their older counterparts. This brings a lot of good into the world, as we have more people understanding their own psyches, situations, feelings, and more, but it also opens up the door for a lot of bad. Our generation can also get lost inside our own examinations and only ever spend time trapped in the cage of ourselves, unturning every rock to try and find just a crumb of meaning and purpose. This is what has led more Gen Z and Gen Alpha toward outside resources such as self-help, therapy, healing camps, and more. And while I support a space for mental health and qualified therapists to help those with deep wounds in their minds, I think many problems that characterize young people are not yet solved because they keep looking for an answer that is not found inside themselves.

Rodrigo repeats the line, "I thought I found the antidote, this time... I thought I found the antidote with you" The crushing weight of working so hard to finally "be cool enough", or to finally "get the guy/girl" who loves you still leaves us feeling empty, spiraling downward. For those who have never staked their whole life on another human being's relationship, whether it be a parent, child, or spouse, it may be hard to imagine that finally getting everything you ever wanted in the world can still leave you feeling empty. Long before Olivia Rodrigo's track, the Bible told us this long ago: "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

To those who have staked their existence on another human being before (author included), you have been met face to face with the truth that another person cannot fill the hole in your heart. The reality is, every person is flawed, we all make mistakes and we all sin. We are all looking for perfect love and perfect fulfillment. The chorus sings,

But my head is full of poison

And my heart is full of doubt

I got toxins in my bloodstream

You tried hard to suck 'em out

And it feels like medication

And it's good for me, I'm sure

But it don't matter how your love feels, anymore

It'll never be the cure

It'll never be the cure

It takes much self awareness to come to this realization. Rodrigo gets it right, acknowledging that even with worldly help, the poison is still set. Nobody can suck out the poison that plagues us because nobody can give us the identity we are meant to have. There is a hole in all of us that cannot be fit by a husband, or a wife, or a partner, or a job. Mankind was not made for mankind, mankind was made for God.

Towards the end of the song, Rodrigo repeats,

Why can't you come stitch me up?

Why can't it ever be enough?

Why can't you come stitch me up?

Why can't it ever be enough?

It's not enough

The Cure

They can’t stitch you up because they did not make you. They do not know how you were designed. The only one who does is the one who created you. Since the beginning, mankind was made in God’s image, not another person’s.

The only purpose that can fulfill us is the one in which we were created for. The only identity that can secure us is the one we truly have.

What we need is someone who sees us, sees our faults, sees our good, sees our mistakes, sees our heartache, sees everything, and still says “I will always love you.” While many lovers can say this, it is doubtful anyone has ever acted in this regard 100% of the time. Only one man has done this, being Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for the love He had for the world. Jesus, being God, not only knows us better than we could ever know ourselves, He also has the ability to stitch us up, because as our Creator He knows exactly what each one of us needs.

In perfect love, Jesus came down as a man to take our problem of sin away: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

The story of Jesus and the message of the gospel brings people to see that there not only is a God who loves us more than we could ever love ourselves, but also accepts us with all our faults, and even forgives us of them. Olivia Rodrigo’s the cure showcases the incapability of finding true purpose in material things or other flawed people, because we were made for God. For a deep, loving, intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. This is offered to everyone, no matter where you are or what you’ve done. Faith in Jesus begins the relationship you were always meant to have.

As the great late Christian writer C.S. Lewis once wrote in Mere Christianity,

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.