Brutal (song)

It was released to Italian radio on September 3, 2021, through Geffen Records, as the fifth and final single from Rodrigo's debut album, Sour (2021).

After the widespread success of Rodrigo's debut single "Drivers License", released on January 8, 2021, she decided she wanted to make a full-length studio album instead.

[17] "Brutal" features a guitar riff similar to that of Elvis Costello's 1978 song "Pump It Up", leading to accusations of plagiarism.

[10] Rolling Stone's Angie Martoccio likened Rodrigo in the song to "an excited teenager relaying gossip on a rotary phone".

[23] Olivia Horn of Pitchfork speculated on whether "Brutal" is "[b]ucking expectations about the kind of sounds [Rodrigo] might gravitate toward" and describes that as just "part of the fun".

[24] AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares called "Brutal" "a surprisingly punky blast of angst", likening the guitars to "the musical equivalent of an eyeroll.

"[25] Entertainment Weekly called "Brutal" the best song of 2021, describing it as "like stepping through a Lollapalooza looking glass, the alt-nation swagger and blown-out guitar fuzz of the Breeders and Elastica reborn in one dimpled Gen-Z teen.

[32] Vogue described the video as a "visual treat" and a compendium of "Y2K beauty", incorporating various looks that marked the 1990s-2000s era, alongside "playfully brash rebellion".

[33][34] It opens in a "glitchy, throwback dimension", where an array of Rodrigo avatars appear, each adorning a stylized wig and exaggerated personality; an 8-bit version of "Brutal" plays in the background.

"Brutal" appeared in the opening montage of Hockey Night in Canada's coverage of Game 2 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

[37][38] The song also served as the soundtrack for the first trailer of Amazon Prime Video's I Know What You Did Last Summer[39] and in the opening scene of the season one finale of HBO Max's Gossip Girl.