Ooh, Olivia does remixes now. Earlier this year, Olivia Rodrigo released her excellent third album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. I was into all the singles, but my favorite track from the LP was "Expectations," the blaring '80s-style dance-pop anthem that comes in near the end of the record. Now, Rodrigo has given "Expectations" the turbo-charged single treatment, releasing a remix that features her friend and fellow A-lister Chappell Roan. There's also a video, starring the two of them and David Byrne, one of the many alternative music legends who clearly admire Rodrigo.
The new "Expectations" remix isn't a radical reimagining of the song or anything. It's really just the original track, with the second verse swapped out for a new verse from Chappell Roan, with Roan also joining Rodrigo on the hook and belting out some ad-libs on the ending. (Her bit about "not kissing no boy" is funny.) But the original song is an all-out banger, and it's great to see it suddenly given the blockbuster treatment months after the original came out. This is Rodrigo's first big-deal remix, and it's also Roan's first time as a featured guest on someone else's song.
Bardia Zeinali directed the deeply silly video for the "Expectations" remix. It's got David Byrne in the role of Johnny Johnson, the host of a series of old-timey game shows based on things like The Dating Game and Family Feud. Rodrigo and Roan both do the Mariah Carey bit where they play multiple characters, and Dan Nigro, the main songwriting partner of both Rodrigo and Roan, makes a quick cameo to do his "Material Girl"-style backup vocals.
Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan go back years. An unknown Roan opened one show on Rodrigo's first tour in 2022, and she sang backup on Rodrigo's 2023 songs "Lacy" and "Obsessed." Roan experienced her sudden surge in popularity immediately after opening the first leg of Rodrigo's Guts Tour in 2023, and then she joined Rodrigo to perform her own song "Hot To Go" later in the tour, after she'd blown up. Earlier this year, Roan played Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields festival. The "Expectations" remix is Roan's first new music since she released the studio version of her live favorite "The Subway" last year.
Rodrigo and David Byrne seem to be buds, too. When she headlined Governors Ball last year, Rodrigo brought Byrne out as a surprise guest, and they sang the Talking Heads classic "Burning Down The House" together. Earlier this year, Byrne released a cover of Rodrigo's breakout smash "Drivers License."
To promote the remix, Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan also did a Zane Lowe interview together. The video interrupts the song a bunch of times. Below, check out the video, the no-sound-effects recording, and the various tertiary artifacts.