As mentioned, Olivia Rodrigo's "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" is all about feeling socially awkward. The singer expresses this by listing a series of social faux pas in the chorus, with the lyrics, "I broke a glass, I tripped and fell / I told secrets I shouldn't tell / I stumbled over all my words / I made it weird, I made it worse." From the physical clumsiness to the conversational missteps, these lines convey a sense of social ineptitude that the singer is obviously embarrassed by.
The second verse of the track similarly focuses on social blunders, with the "Vampire" singer shifting to focus more on romantic slip-ups, rather than social awkwardness in general. The song goes, "I talkŠµd to this hot guy, swore I was his type / Guess that he was makin' out with boys, like, the whole night (Oh) / Everythin' I do is tragic (Oh) / Every guy I like is gay (Oh)." In this instance, the singer incorrectly interprets a guy as romantically interested in her when he is actually interested in other guys.
These lyrics demonstrate the narrator's inability to properly read social situations, which in turn causes her to feel insecure. Combined with the faux pas of the chorus, these lines all work to demonstrate the song's central concept of social awkwardness, playing into the theme of alienation.
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