Lacy (song)

After the commercial success of her debut studio album, Sour (2021),[1] Olivia Rodrigo continued collaborating with Dan Nigro, who had produced all of the tracks on it.[2] The follow-up album, Guts (2023), was conceived when she was aged 19, a year that she described as "lots of confusion, mistakes, awkwardness & good old fashioned teen angst".[3] The album and its title were announced on June 26, 2023, and its lead single, "Vampire", was released four days later.[4][5] The song reached number one in various countries,[6][7] including the United States, where it became her third number one single on the Billboard Hot 100.[8] "Bad Idea Right?" was chosen as the follow-up single.[9]

Rodrigo wrote "Lacy" with Nigro.[10] She detailed her inspiration to Linda Perry before performing an acoustic version of it at the Grammy Museum: "I took a poetry class at USC last year. I've always been really interested in poetry… And so I took this class, and it was amazing. I wrote this poem called 'Lacy,' about this sort of all-encompassing envy that I was feeling, for one of the assignments in class. It was like a homework assignment. And I loved it so much that I turned into this song. It's one of my favorites. I just remember I was sitting at my kitchen counter and I wrote, 'Lacy, oh Lacy, skin like puff pastry…' And I was like, oh, that’s interesting, and finished off the poem and turned it into a song."[11]

On August 1, 2023, she revealed Guts's tracklist, which features "Lacy" as the fourth track.[12] The song became available for digital download on the album, which was released on September 8, 2023.[13] Rodrigo did not reveal who the subject of its lyrics was. Following the release of "Lacy", it garnered attention due to the mysterious character of its subject matter. When asked about the inspiration, Rodrigo responded: "All my songs are about me and about how I feel, I don't know!"[14] On September 29, she performed the song at the Bluebird Café.[15]

"Lacy" is two minutes and 57 seconds long.[13] It was recorded at Amusement Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Nigro provided production and vocal production, and he engineered the song with Dani Perez and Chris Kasych. He plays drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, and synthesizer. Mitch McCarthy mixed the song at the Wheelhouse Studios in Vancouver, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.[10]

"Lacy" keeps the "finger-picked folk-pop [sound] that popped up a few times on Sour" according to Billboard's Jason Lipshutz. The song's lyrics emphasize Rodrigo experiencing jealousy and envy as she delivers her vocals with a "scornful whisper".[16] She describes a female figure called Lacy, who has "skin like puff pastry" and "eyes white as daisies". Rodrigo continues complimenting her during the second verse, calling her "sexy" and referring to her as a "Bardot reincarnate" in reference to French actress Brigitte Bardot. She initially sings in a sarcastic tone and goes on to detail being tortured by her obsession and constant thoughts about Lacy.[17] Rodrigo confesses to experiencing self-hatred due to her envy towards its climax: "I just loathe you lately / And I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you / Yeah, I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you."[18] Time's Moises Mendez II likened the song's lyrical theme to Dolly Parton's 1973 single "Jolene".[19]

The real identity of "Lacy" has been a subject of speculation, with fans suggesting the song might be about Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter. Time's Moises Mendez II noted the positive descriptors used for Lacy, including the Bardot comparison, as potential references to Swift.[18][19] The plausible LGBT implications of the lyrics also received critical analysis; Out's Bernardo Sim and Pride's Rachel Kiley believed the song could be about Rodrigo's romantic attraction to a woman.[20][21] The lyrics were positively received by the queer community on social media.[22]

In a ranking of all songs on Guts, Lipshutz placed "Lacy" at number 12 and stated: "The morphing lyrics of the chorus represent the songwriting triumph here, with Rodrigo swapping out the majority of the lines of the first hook as she continues describing the desperation of her envy."[16] In a negative review, Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph thought the song was "downright bad" and criticized the lyric comparing Lacy's skin to puff pastry: "Admittedly, it's been eight years since I could call myself a teenager, so I might be out of the doom-loop of angst, but since when was the best way to describe a beautiful face as possessing the sheen of a sausage roll?"[23] Some commented on the speculation it is about Swift. Writing for The New York Times, Jon Caramanica stated: "From a young star who's had what appears to be frosty relations with Swift, [...] it reads like the bruise from a door slammed shut in her face".[24] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield anticipated Rodrigo singing the words "I try, I try, I try" would not help dispel the rumors.[25]

"Lacy" debuted at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[26] The song peaked at number 24 on the Canadian Hot 100.[27] In the United Kingdom, it charted at number 26 on the Official Audio Streaming Chart and number 24 on Billboard.[28][29] In Australia, "Lacy" reached number 25.[30] The song peaked at number 16 in New Zealand.[31] It charted at number 20 on the Billboard Global 200 .[32] Elsewhere, "Lacy" reached national record charts, at number 18 in Ireland,[33] number 52 in Portugal,[34] and number 65 in Greece.[35]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Guts.[10]

• Dan Nigro – producer, songwriter, drums, engineer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocal producer, bass, synthesizer
• Olivia Rodrigo – songwriter
• Dani Perez – engineer
• Chris Kasych – engineer
• Austen Healey – assistant recording engineer
• Randy Merrill – mastering
• Mitch McCarthy – mixing