Olivia Rodrigo turned into a superstar overnight with her hit song Driver’s License. The success of her album SOUR led fans to want more. Two years later, Rodrigo recently released her long-anticipated sophomore album: GUTS.
Rodrigo started working on this album in August of 2022 with her producer Dan Nigro, on the label Geffen Records. She recently moved to New York which helped her writing process.
GUTS has 12 songs on the album totaling 39 minutes. The album features two singles, Vampire and Bad Idea right?, which are currently getting radio play and attention on Spotify. As of this writing, Vampire sits at the No.7 spot on the Billboard Top 100, remaining on the charts for its 13th week. The album is surrounded by fanfare, but did it meet expectations?
In terms of music? Yes. On GUTS, Rodrigo altered her music style –for better or for worse– to full-on pop punk/indie with a hint of soft pop mixed throughout the album. Whether fans will appreciate this move to a harder style is still to be seen.
We saw hints at a different side of her on the SOUR track Good 4 You, which has over 1 billion streams. Fan favorites on this second album are all american bitch, bad idea right, ballad of a homeschooled girl, and get him back!, which showcases her talent for perfecting the Indie/Punk genre.
The more you listen to the album the better it gets.
She “spills her guts’ “on her feelings of betrayal in the grudge and Vampire. Her transformative experiences of becoming a young adult are explored in pretty isn’t pretty, love is embarrassing, and teenage dream. Songs like lacy, making the bed, and logical seem like they could appear on SOUR with the slow tempo and relatable lyrics.
Listeners of Rodrigo know that lyrics make her songs. She is notorious for creating relatable scenarios that capture the feelings of teenagers and young adults. In teenage dream she yearns to remain where she is in life in fear of growing up: “Got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only nineteen / But I fear that they already got all the best parts of me. “
In the funky and snappy song Love is embarrassing she explains about an unrequited love that leads her to feel foolish over a guy who doesn’t matter. She goes on to say: “And now it don’t mean a thing / God, love’s fucking embarrassing / Loser who’s not worth mentioning / My God, love’s embarrassing as hell.”
Although her lyrics are natural, they are layered over very produced and digital backing tracks like get him back!, bad idea right?, and pretty isn’t pretty. Accompanying this we hear raw emotion in her voice on piano tracks like making the bed, the grudge, and logical. This juxtaposition helps her keep the pop aspect of her sound while creating an interesting feel to the album.
My current ranking of the album tracks:
- Making the bed
- Logical
- The grudge
- Love is embarrassing
- Pretty isn’t pretty
- Get him back!
- Vampire
- Bad idea right?
- Lacy
- Teenage dream
- Ballad of a homeschooled girl
- All american bitch
Promotional tour dates post
After the release, Rodrigo took to social media to announce the opening of a “guts gallery” across different states to buy merchandise, have a Q&A with her, as well as a walk-through of the set. She also performed a couple of her new songs on the Today Show.
Days later, the artist posted across all platforms that she would be going on tour with special guests The Breeders, Chaooell Roan, and Pink Pantheress. Though there are mixed reactions to her album–mostly positive– millions of fans are excited to experience her second world tour.
