Lacy (song)
[3] She conceived the follow-up album, Guts (2023), at the age of 19, while experiencing "lots of confusion, mistakes, awkwardness & good old fashioned teen angst".
[5] They wrote over 100 songs, of which Rodrigo included the more rock-oriented tracks on the album because they drew a bigger reaction from her audiences during live shows.
[12] Following the release, it received attention due to the mysterious character of its subject matter,[13] with fans suggesting the song might be about Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams,[14][15] or Sabrina Carpenter.
[21] She sings it while wriggling on an upraised dais before several dancers emerge from under it to perform choreography, which Vancouver Sun's Stuart Derdeyn likened to Busby Berkeley's water ballet sequences during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Mitch McCarthy mixed the song at the Wheelhouse Studios in Vancouver, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.
[24][30] The vocals are layered into a harmony, which recalls the work of Lana Del Rey according to Beats Per Minute's Lucas Martins, and leads into an electronic/synthesizer flourish.
[34] Based on the physical description of Lacy, such as the Bardot comparison, Time's Moises Mendez II likened her to Swift[37] and Stephanie Soteriou of BuzzFeed News compared her to Carpenter.
[48] Variety's Chris Willman described "Lacy" as Swift's 2015 single "Bad Blood" if it was transformed into a slower beautiful ballad with a more ambivalent and self-reflective tone rather than pure anger.
[28] On the other hand, Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph thought the song was "downright bad" and criticized the lyric comparing Lacy's skin to puff pastry: "since when was the best way to describe a beautiful face as possessing the sheen of a sausage roll"?
The Independent's Helen Brown believed she sang with vigor, similarly to Tori Amos, and Wood thought her "breath [sounded] almost uncomfortably hot on the microphone".
[32] Its production was described as airy,[26] delicate,[51][52] and dreamy, with The New York Times's Jon Caramanica drawing comparisons to Swift's 2020 album Folklore.
[25] Matthew Kim of The Line of Best Fit thought the strummed guitars and ascending vocals created an intimacy that surpassed all of her previous work.
[26] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Mark Richardson believed the harmony was refined and attractive and the music was engaging enough to counter some of its awkward lyrics.
[57][58] "Lacy" received a silver certification in the United Kingdom from the British Phonographic Industry, and the Official Charts Company declared it her 19th-biggest song in the country in February 2024.
[66] Rodrigo performed a cover of American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan's 2022 single "Stick Season" at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in October 2023.
[67][68] Kahan chose the song because he believed it highlighted his favorite aspects of Rodrigo's songwriting and its spirited nature made listeners "feel an emotion we've all experienced before".
[67][71] Sadie Bell of People believed the cover made "Lacy" a "slowed-down lovelorn ballad", infusing it with longing and sorrow and being tender yet brimming with emotion.
[68] Describing the rendition as heartfelt in Consequence, Jo Vito wrote that Kahan used a gentle falsetto while navigating the rise and fall of the melody, and the consistent backbeat, strumming banjo, and layered harmonies merged to create a folksy and robust soundscape during the climax.
[72] Uproxx's Lexi Lane believed he emphasized the quieter notes of the song, making it more emotional, and the second verse had an up-tempo folk instrumentation.
