r/OliviaRodrigoNeutral

I've been listening to the CD since release. When people noticed the vinyl was different, I read here on Reddit that the CD was identical to streaming, so I didn't think about it any further.

Then I saw the post "Why is YSPSFAGSIL CD different??" (https://www.reddit.com/r/OliviaRodrigo/comments/1x2lak2/why_is_yspsfagsil_cd_different/) yesterday and listened to the streaming version for the first time. cigarette smoke is one of my favorites and I heard the difference in the chorus right away.

So I compared the whole album. I took my rip of the CD, lined it up with the digital release, let software find every spot where the two differ, and listened to the bigger differences myself. Below is everything I found, including the songs where nothing changed.

Timestamps are from the streaming version.

tl;dr: the big ones are begged, where most of the vocals are a different recording, cigarette smoke, where two lines were re-recorded, and u + me = <3, where the instrumental in the last pre-chorus is different. maggots for brains and what's wrong with me sound different when you compare them side by side. Smaller mix differences in stupid song, honeybee and expectations, and a few small spots in my way and the cure. drop dead is practically the same, purple and less are identical.

1. drop dead

Same mix. Only the mastering is very slightly different (the CD is a touch brighter). You won't hear that in normal listening.

2. stupid song

The whole song is mixed a bit differently, same vocal recording. Most noticeable in the bridge at "Nobody's wanted somebody more" (2:22 and 2:29), which is louder on streaming.

3. honeybee

The CD sounds a bit duller, less treble. Some parts are also mixed slightly differently. Vocals are the same.

4. maggots for brains

The vocals sound a bit different: thinner and harsher on the CD, fuller and softer on streaming. It's not something that jumps out, you mainly notice it when you play both back to back. Easiest to hear in the first 40 seconds and from 3:24 to the end. The lyrics seem to be the same. The comparison suggests it might be a different recording of the vocals, but I can't say that for sure. It could also just be processed differently. The CD version is also about 0.6% faster.

5. u + me = <3

At 3:04-3:16, in the last pre-chorus:

>They say modern love's a cruel endeavor
And to that I say, "Fuck it, whatever"

On streaming the instrumental drops back here, so it feels like the song slows down before it builds back up into the last chorus. On the CD it keeps going at full energy through these lines. If you know the song, that's hard to miss. The rest of the song is mixed a little differently too, but nothing that stands out. Vocals are the same.

6. my way

Same vocals and almost the same mix. The software found two or three short spots where something in the background is mixed differently. I haven't gone looking for them by ear, they're short and easy to miss.

7. purple

Identical, no difference at all.

8. the cure

Same mix and vocals. A few parts, mostly in the last minute, are balanced a little differently, probably one instrument a bit louder or quieter. Small enough that I'd call it the same song.

9. begged

From around 0:56 on the vocals are a completely different recording, so she sang most of the song again. Before that it's the same. Differences you can point at:

• 1:41: "Yeah, to get it, I begged" on streaming, just "To get it, I begged" on the CD
• In the last chorus:
  • 2:50: "'Cause they say it's a virtue to not let good love slip away", the CD doesn't have the "'Cause"
  • 3:18-3:24: "Yeah, to get it, I begged", again without the "Yeah" on the CD, and on streaming the last "begged" is held longer

Apart from those, the whole vocal sounds different from 0:56 on, and it's mixed more clearly on streaming. The CD version is also a bit quieter and more dynamic, and about 0.5% faster, so it ends almost 2 seconds earlier. If you follow along on the CD, everything after the first minute comes 1-2 seconds earlier.

My guess is that the CD has the older vocals and she redid them for the streaming version, since the CD had to be finished well before release. But that's only a guess, I don't know which came first.

10. what's wrong with me (feat. Robert Smith)

Different mix through the whole song. The CD has less bass and is a bit quieter and more dynamic. The vocals seem to be the same recordings.

11. less

Identical, no difference at all.

12. expectations

Same vocals, the lyrics are the same too. The choruses and the bridge are mixed slightly differently. It's subtle.

13. cigarette smoke

In both choruses, two lines are sung differently, higher on streaming:

• "You said that I made loving look easy" (1:53 and 3:24)
• "I thought that we played the perfect couple" (2:16 and 3:46)

The words are the same. As far as I can tell the rest of the vocal is the same recording as on the CD, just mixed a bit differently, so it's just those two lines that were re-recorded.

Technical notes, for anyone interested:

• My FLAC rip of the CD, compared against the 24 bit/48 kHz download. I also had two 16 bit versions of the download, but those are the same master as the 24 bit one, so it doesn't matter which one you compare against.
• Both versions lined up in time and compared section by section, with null tests (subtract one from the other and see what's left) and spectrograms. For the vocals I also compared the pitch contour of the singing, to tell "re-recorded" apart from "same take, different mix".
• purple and less on the CD null to below -89 dB against one of the 16 bit download files, so they're effectively the same files. drop dead nulls to about -40 dB, which is just mastering. my way and the cure null to about -25 dB overall, with a few short spots around -10 to -15 dB.
• begged and maggots for brains run 0.53% and 0.57% faster on the CD at the same pitch, so time-stretched (or rendered at a slightly different tempo), not just sped up.
• Rough scale for the vocal comparison: two different recordings of the same chorus line score about 0.5-0.65, the same take in a different mix 0.8-0.93, identical 0.99. The two cigarette smoke lines drop to 0.34-0.55, begged after 0:56 is mostly 0.2-0.65.

I was just watching the music video for Drop dead and realized how wild it is that people are judging "singing about a silly little girl crush in one of the most prestigious places in the world".

Like do people know the story behind Versaille? Louis 14th had such a big ego he couldn't handle that Paris was getting so big so he built a huge castle further away to show how rich and powerful he was. The intent behind this castle is petty as fuck, let the rich girl sing about her little crush in there, it's kind of on brand.