The Meaning Behind “Serena Joy” by Olivia Rodrigo and a Protest Song With a Warning

Olivia Rodrigo returns with a post-punk protest banger called “Serena Joy”. Written with her producer Dan Nigro, Rodrigo warns of unwitting accomplices as she employs a fictional character as a metaphor for our current times.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

Rodrigo’s song gets its name from the female character in The Handmaid’s Tale. In the dystopian novel and television show, Serena Joy Waterford helps construct the patriarchal hellhole that is Gilead, forcing women into village custom, subjugation, and forced pregnancies.

But it’s hard not to notice the parallel between Margaret Atwood’s fiction and America’s flirtations with authoritarianism. And how many elites, including America’s biggest companies and wealthiest individuals, played a role, and even aided in the slow destruction of democratic norms.

Yeah, it’s all for the cause,
For the good of us all.
And if you close your eyes,
Then it can’t be your fault.

In the second half of the verse, without mentioning his name, Rodrigo alludes to President Trump, the gold-filled White House, and ballroom construction as the backdrop to inflation, a persistent housing crisis, and general economic insecurity.  

Yeah, it’s all for the cause,
For the good of us all.
Here’s a tower we built,
Painted gold on the walls.
And we’ll never be beat,
No, we never will fall.
While they’re out on the streets,
Man, we’re having a ball.

Serena Birthed It

Returning to Serena, she failed to learn a valuable (and predictable) history lesson: If they do it to them / They’re gonna do it to you. It echoes how today people often ignore the Constitution until one day their own rights are stripped away.

Next, the public gets distracted by glossy consumerism as politicians divide people with culture war, conspiracy, and a multitude of invented bogeymen. And all the confusion and outrage ultimately leads to apathy.

Have a Coke and a smile,
Let me show you a trick.
If you can’t throw a punch,
You can learn how to spit.
And we’ll never give up,
And we’ll never submit.
Look, the life of your dreams,
Is beyond that cliff.

Still, the American dream isn’t out of reach yet. Just make sure you hold onto it as we all careen off the cliff.

Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images