Watch Olivia Rodrigo Break Down The Lyrics To “Honeybee” — Exclusive

Oh, to be inside Olivia Rodrigo’s mind when she writes a song. Well, now you can be — sort of.

In the latest installment of American Express’ “Story of my Song” series, shared exclusively with NYLON, the pop star breaks down how she wrote the song “Honeybee” off her new record, “You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love.” “This was, I think, the first love song that I wrote for the album, which was very important,” Rodrigo prefaces. “It was basically my adventure into trying to write a song that was a ‘love song’ but it also had some element of sadness or fear or melancholy; all of my favorite love songs have those elements. I remember writing this song and being really happy for a few days after being like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I feel really good about this,’ and that doesn’t always happen when you write a song so it was a special feeling.”

Throughout the 16-minute episode, Rodrigo shares a wealth of insights — far more than we could ever cover here — as she dissects and deconstructs the song line by line on an oversized legal pad plastered with handwritten song lyrics. The first peek behind the songwriting curtain comes during the first verse, when Rodrigo reveals an inside joke between her and longtime producer Dan Nigro.

“My favorite funny part is that I cut up ‘clichés I knew.’ Dan and I always joke that we’re going to open a French restaurant called Chez Au Nous, ‘cus that’s what it sounds like in the song,” Rodrigo says, which prompts the producer to reveal that the name translates to “at our place.” “It makes me seem like I’m really smart and I’m like, putting Easter eggs to French language in my songs, which I’m not,” Rodrigo replies. Another unexpected reveal: the line “Let’s just walk in the dark / Hop the fence in the park” is a reference to the 1999 rom-com Notting Hill. “Whenever I hear that line I think of Hugh Grant, and how cute he was in that movie,” she says.

In the chorus, she drops even more gems of wisdom, including one relating to the thesis-statement-ness of the final line, “Here’s to hoping.” “There’s an element to hope when you meet someone, you’re like ‘Oh, my God, I hope this can be amazing,’” the singer says. “And then you’re dating and you’re like, ‘I hope this can be forever.’ In any relationship, everything’s like a beautiful flower that’s gorgeous and you’re like, ‘Oh, God, I don’t want it to die, but it’s part of what makes it so beautiful.”

Considering NYLON just crowned Rodrigo the new Queen of the Bridge, we couldn’t help but perk up when she addressed the fact that the song doesn’t have one. If anything, her explanation just proves our case. “I tried to write a bunch of bridges for the song, and it just didn’t feel like it worked. It felt like the song needed some space, it needed to open up,” she says. Now that’s a pro.

Even after the song is over, she still has one more message to impart on us. “I think at the end of the day I just wanna write songs that excite me that I feel like capture what it feels like to be me and be alive and in my world,” says Rodrigo. “I hope that I can keep writing songs that maybe make people feel seen, and make me feel seen. Here’s to hoping.”

Watch the full episode below.