Olivia Rodrigo – Can’t Catch Me Now Review

Save yourself the trouble of a visit to the cinema to watch the latest Hunger Games instalment. If it was just to hear this song, something which sounds insane but is perfectly reasonable in the deflated mind of a fandom member, Olivia Rodrigo’s effort is solid. It is a fine piece for a flimsy film and Can’t Catch Me Now makes perfect sense for the narrative of a series of films which, while based on the teenage dramatics Suzanne Collins peddled a decade ago, holds some real quality to it. The same cannot be said for the others of the time, those contemporaries who shoulder their way into and often overshadow The Hunger Games. A shame, since the series, up until this Rodrigo music-featuring moment, was rather solid. Can’t Catch Me Now is somewhat solid too.  

Though it will not set the world on fire as first thought, it must be said there is quality to stripping back the studio flourishes and providing Rodrigo a place to work with just an acoustic guitar. Softer openings for the rising star whose GUTS release is far removed from this one show her range once more and present a thoroughly memorable though middle-of-the-road experience. It is a track forever tied to some horrific fandoms, destined to be used in TikTok edits where the screen looks fuzzy and a little too vibrant, such are the filters used in this song’s seven weeks of relevancy. Can’t Catch Me Now is a far better song than the dull film it is ripped from – and much of it works without the context of the movie. Thankfully so.  

Repetition of the track’s title is nicely turned through, a solid and rather predictable build-up which brings out the best in this acoustic guitar work. It hits the ceiling of limitations rather quickly but it is great to hear Rodrigo can turn her hand to movie-oriented music when called upon. Most can, though there is still a sense of her identity as an artist within this piece, one which will likely be left off the touring setlist but could certainly fit in there if called upon. A rare little number which, like most music made for television or film, will be lost a decade from now and fawned for as the contemporary boom in interest for it will not survive. Had it been that slight bit better, that more in touch with its listeners, then it could have lived on. 

Instead, the mountains and forests of this opening paint a pretty picture and do nothing to relay this as a personalised or powerful piece for Rodrigo to stitch her name into. It is for the characters of a movie doubting its own running time to make the most of this song and it is fair to say it does not. Can’t Catch Me Now then seems like a sad waste, a solid track which would have caused less fuss if not latched to one of the bigger releases of the year. Rodrigo can do no more than watch how her track is used from here, spliced into dull cuts and edits as the slick and nicely-tempered guitar work is all but forgotten about over recency bias and teenage fiction cultural shifts.