Olivia Rodrigo has released a new politically charged song inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale. Titled “Serena Joy” after the novel’s controversial character, the track was surprise-released on Friday, August 21, in an extremely limited physical run.
The song was released as a limited-edition CD single with only 500 copies pressed, sold exclusively through Analog Music Shop in Tustin, California. All copies sold out within hours. The exclusive physical release was timed to support Rodrigo’s upcoming all-women music festival, Daisy Chain Fields, taking place in Orange County on August 29.
“I actually really love ‘Serena Joy’,” Rodrigo previously told Etalk in June, explaining that the track didn’t make her latest album. “The record was very much a chronicle of a relationship,,beginning, middle and end. But I hope that it’ll be a part of something else down the line”. That “something else” appears to be her new festival.
The song takes its name from Serena Joy Waterford, a character in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale who helps build a patriarchal society before becoming a victim of it . The lyrics don’t explicitly mention the character but center on the consequences of allowing oppression to happen to others, with a recurring warning: “If they do it to them / They’ll do it to you” .
The record shop that sold the CDs called the release “an artist building a stage for women in music and raising funds for women and girls”. “Serena Joy” will receive its wider digital release on Monday, August 24.
