From stirring up drama between celebs to creating the latest internet crush, TikTok is capable of many things. When it comes to music, the app is a revolving door of new and old songs, putting them on charts and sparking trends out of the hits. The power of TikTokers doesn’t stop at released songs, however. TikTok has become a source to find unreleased songs and users are quick to hop on the speculation surrounding the tracks — and the latest one is “Strange” by Olivia Rodrigo.
Rodrigo is not immune to TikTokers and their love for getting their hands on new music. Recently, fans have been lip-syncing to an unreleased single of hers titled “Strange.” The name fits the bill because the source of the single is strangely unknown. There has been speculation the single was left off her debut album Sour and some fans think they know when the release date was supposed to happen. Though the song has gone viral on TikTok, there has been very little confirmation of whether this song will be released. Let’s get to the bottom of this.
“Strange” By Olivia Rodrigo first started circulating in April 2022.
Though the song has recently been used to express heartbreak emotions on TikTok, the song was first heard back in April 2022 when a 10-second snippet was released on a Discord channel. It wasn’t too long after that the full song was posted on Soundcloud by a random account, which is where fans have been listening to it for months.
Once fans got their hands on the Soundcloud track, the unreleased song started circulating on TikTok. This is when speculation about its origins kicked off.
Fans speculated the song was left off of Sour.
Upon first hearing the song, fans couldn’t help but notice the similar vibes to the tracks in Sour, Rodrigo’s debut album that was released in May 2021. Sour had stories following the aftermath of a breakup and seeing the one you loved with someone else. The lyrics of “Strange” follow a similar story of seeing an ex doing things with a new partner that they wouldn’t do with you.
One TikToker posted a video stating, “Miss Olivia, why did you take this off the album?” Comments under that video seemed to agree with the Sour idea, with one comment claiming “she scrapped it because the lyrics and story-telling was too similar to ‘Driver’s License.’” Her Campus reached out to Rodrigo’s team for comment but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.
TikTokers were convinced they knew the release date of the single.
Despite having no confirmation of Rodrigo’s intentions for this single, fans were confident that they knew when the song would be released. Some fans were speculating that the song would be released on Feb. 3, while others were doubtful. When Feb. 3 rolled around, no song was released. However, fans were still holding out hope that the song would be released alongside an album in February since it’s Rodrigo’s birthday month.
With the new trend, fans are eager for Olivia Rodrigo to formally release “Strange.”
After realizing they fell victim to the rumors surrounding the release date, fans are begging Rodrigo to release the song. One Twitter user wrote, “I saw a TikTok that said Olivia Rodrigo was dropping ‘Strange,” and I believed it but then was sadly crushed when I realized I was lied to.” Another wrote, “That “Strange” song by Olivia Rodrigo needa drop NEOWWWW.” Listen, I’m right there with you. I need new Rodrigo music to scream to ASAP.
The unreleased song has been used in over 36,000 TikTok videos, ranging from fans hyping up the song to users acting out the lyrics. Fans are hoping that because the song is trending on TikTok, Rodrigo will feel inspired to release “Strange.” One fan came to Twitter to say: “Olivia Rodrigo really needs to milk being relevant again and release ‘Strange’ now that it’s trending on TikTok.”
Though the status of “Strange” remains unclear, fans can expect to see new music from Rodrigo in 2023. She revealed this news in her Spotify Wrapped message to her fans that said, “I’m so excited for next year, and all of the new things, and new music that 2023 will bring.” I’ll be here waiting, Ms. Rodrigo.