“I Hate U, I Love U” by Gnash and Olivia O’Brien

Plenty of reviewers have pointed out the obvious problems with this song…the lack of energy, the blatant rip-off of Drake’s style on the Rap verses, the extremely mean-spirited tone, the total disconnect in subject matter between the chorus and the verses, and just generally the fact that nothing here is interesting enough to be worth listening to. I, however, seem to be the only one who has noticed that this song’s chorus is uncannily similar, in both music and lyrics, to the song “I Hate You” from the musical If/Then. I suppose this could be a coincidence, but given the extent of the similarity, and the fact that this song is already blatantly derivative of so many other things (Drake, the Chainsmokers’ “Closer”, etc.), I don’t find it particularly unlikely that it was deliberate. If so, I commend Olivia O’Brien on her taste in musical theater, but deplore the cynical implication that she thought none of her target audience would even notice. In any case, this possible attribution is the only conceivable point of interest about this terminally dull Pop song, and you’re better off getting the If/Then cast album if you want to hear this idea done well in any case.

Verdict: Completely uninteresting.

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