Super Graphic Ultra Modern Expectations (Chappell Roan x Olivia Rodrigo)

I have been wanting to create an Olivia Rodrigo mashup since I began making mashups. However, I never seemed to think of an idea for one that worked.

Until now.

Chappell Roan’s “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” is one of my favorites of the pop star, and a highlight of the Midwest Princess album. Part of me wanted to explore what songs I could mash it up with, but I ultimately wanted to leave the masterpiece untouched. That’s when Roan’s friend Olivia Rodrigo released her third studio album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. The back half of this incredible album is full of some of the most gut-wrenching songs I’ve ever heard – except one. The whiplash fans received from sobbing at the end of “less” to hearing the sudden upbeat synths of the next song “expectations” was joked about heavily on the internet.

“expectations” is a song I didn’t expect would grow on me after the first few listens of the album. But I can’t lie – it’s a banger! One day in early August, my brain did what it always does and played two songs together at the same time. And a few days later, this mashup was born.

I struggled to find a good track on YouTube for “Super Graphic,” so I ended up having to download the official lyric video as an MP3. The unfortunate thing about this was that there’s a small bit of sound that plays before the actual song starts in the lyric video, so I had to cut that out perfectly. Even then, a small millisecond of a chime could be heard at the very start of the mashup. However, I ended up discovering that the chime was actually from the isolated vocals of “expectations” and not “Super Graphic.” So I easily chopped that right off. I did end up replacing the isolated instrumental of “Super Graphic” anyway in hopes to make the mashup sound a bit clearer.

Choosing the back and forth between both songs’ vocal sections was the most fun part of the process, as it usually is. I had the instant idea to open the mashup with the first verse of “expectations” playing over the iconic instrumental of “Super Graphic.” I did want to give the verse back to Chappell Roan at one point, that being with the pre-chorus “Not overdramatic, I know what I want.” That line honestly works there because it sort of slant-rhymes with “And a car his parents bought,” which is pretty cool.

At the end of the mashup, when the two songs’ choruses overlap (my favorite part of every mashup I make), I was faced with a slight issue. The ending of “Super Graphic” has extra lyrics (“Ooh, you got me la-la-la-ing…”), whereas “expectations” does not. I quickly found a solution to that, however. I simply duplicated the last instance of “These days I’ve got” twice to match with Chappell’s two extra bars. That way, the two songs could both end at relatively the same point.

I realized that the mashup is just under three minutes, and that’s because I increased the BPM of “Super Graphic” to match that of “expectations.” The two songs are also both in different keys, with “Super Graphic” being a half-step higher than “expectations.” So I simply transposed the key of “expectations” for this mashup.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much I can do with what I have on my phone, between the audio files, Moises and iMovie. So I apologize that this mashup’s sound quality is far from the best it’s ever been. I still hope you guys can enjoy it nonetheless!