Olivia Rodrigo announced on Friday that the second single from her forthcoming third album is titled "The Cure."
Rodrigo called the track "It’s my favourite song on the album and one of my favourite songs I’ve ever made," and posted the single artwork on Instagram on Tuesday — a Polaroid of herself holding red string in a cat's cradle that spells out the song's title.
On Wednesday she shared a snippet of the music video: women in nurse uniforms and chunky white heels walking toward powdery pink doors that read "OR," with Rodrigo appearing to lead the charge toward the operating room. The imagery and the single’s title prompted some fans to speculate that Robert Smith or his band might have a hand in the new track.
The speculation sits against an unusually public friendship. Last June Rodrigo brought Robert Smith out as a surprise guest during her headlining Glastonbury set, where they performed "Friday I'm in Love" and "Just Like Heaven" together. Rodrigo has called Smith "perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England" and "a personal hero," and Smith told British Vogue that "She calls me up quite a bit to talk about clothes and fashion — and we have enjoyed a couple of memorable nights in the studio together. … I can’t wait to hear what she does next!"
Still, Rodrigo pushed back on the band link on Thursday, telling the Elvis Duran Show that "The Cure" has nothing to do with the band. "It just was a happy coincidence, I suppose," she said. She also told Cosmopolitan last month that "the string is important in the themes of the album," tying the red-string artwork to the record’s imagery rather than to any outside collaborator.
Music reporting identifies "The Cure" as the second single from Rodrigo's third album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, which is due on 12 June. The same reporting says Rodrigo recently announced The Unraveled Tour in support of the album, which is scheduled to kick off in September and continue into next year.
The tension here is simple: Rodrigo and Smith have clear, public creative ties — shared stages, studio nights and warm public comments — and a new single called "The Cure" naturally invites association with Smith's band. But Rodrigo’s own denial and her explanation of the artwork as part of a string motif point away from a direct connection to the band on this specific song.
Given Rodrigo’s on-record statements and the materials she released this week, the most reasonable conclusion is that "The Cure" is her song and her aesthetic choice, not a band-backed collaboration. Fans will get a final answer in short order: the album is due 12 June, the single is already rolling out, and Rodrigo’s tour begins in September — the next concrete moments when collaborators and credits will be listed and visible.
