How do you follow up on one of the most discussed and acclaimed albums of the 2020s? If you’re Olivia Rodrigo, you get back from your fully sold-out, first-ever headline world tour and simply get working on the next one. ‘GUTS’, just like its predecessor ‘SOUR’, is a hard-hitting, one-punch, four-lettered title that encapsulates the essence of the record it represents – from following one’s instincts to sharing one’s truth, that single word can be applied to many different scenarios.
Loyal to the early 2000s pop-punk-inspired sound, the record is opened by the self-acclaiming ‘all-american bitch’. The opener is angsty, sprinkled with dichotomies, and ironically celebratory of all those qualities America prides itself on carrying. Perhaps involuntarily influenced by the soundtrack of her formative years, Rodrigo has once again been accused of plagiarizing songs that shaped her generation – purposeful or not, the sonic similarities between ‘all-american bitch’ and Miley Cyrus’ 2008 hit ‘Start All Over’ come across as a reflection of that teenage force typical of the Americana aesthetic we have globally grown familiar with. A semi-muffled rage that can hardly be contained by the time Rodrigo releases a series of controlled screams right before the track fades into its outro.
It’s at the very end of its runtime, when you think it does not have much else to offer, that ‘all-merican bitch’ reaches its comedic climax: a series of footsteps, a knock on the door, and as the door opens, Rodrigo greets some ‘loser not worth mentioning’ at the top of ‘GUTS’ second track ‘bad idea right?’. The perfect American girl is spilling her guts, starting with the universal experience of making bad decisions in the name of reconnecting with an ex you should most definitely stay away from. Like the track, it stems from, ‘bad idea right?’ is a loud, sonically intriguing track that draws you in through its clever use of echoed choirs, layered vocals, cool bass lines and kick drums.
It goes without saying that singing of goals you never thought you’d achieve in a lifetime before you even turned nineteen isn’t the most relatable topic one could sing about – and yet, Rodrigo manages to make it relateable as ever. Sure, it takes talent to put into words experiences as commonly shared as heartbreak and coming-of-age frustration can be, but perhaps Rodrigo’s greatest strength lies within the ability to take typically alienating topics and turn them into deeply relatable ones. ‘ballad of a homeschooled girl’ and ‘making the bed’ are two clear back-to-back examples. The first one is an upbeat piece in which Rodrigo attributes her lacking social skills to her upbringing as a homeschooled child. “When I’m alone, I’m fine / But don’t let me out at night, it’s social suicide”, she sings – homeschooled or not, haven’t we all been there? ‘making the bed’, on the other hand, has an even more personal undertone. A mesmerizing melody leads Rodrigo as she attempts to come to terms with the success her first album brought into her life, decisions that in some way seem to have caused her own demise.
‘GUTS’ often nods to its predecessor ‘SOUR’, a thin thread of recurring themes, sounds, and styles. The contrast can be seen in the album covers alone: so similar, yet so different. Both predominantly purple, both capturing Rodrigo as she quite physically shows ownership and attachment to the albums’ titles. One brighter, younger, as sour as Rodrigo’s expression – the other more mature, darker, slightly suggestive as Rodrigo slides out of frame whilst taking up most of it still. Even with its closing track, ‘teenage dream’, ‘GUTS’ mirrors ‘SOUR’s ‘hope ur ok’: if ‘hope ur ok’ was a hopeful note to the people Rodrigo cares for in her life, ‘teenage dream’ is an open letter to herself. With hard-hitting lyrics like “Got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only nineteen / But I fear that they already got all the best parts of me” and “They all say that it gets better / It gets better the more you grow / They all say that it gets better / It gets better, but what if I don’t?”, ‘teenage dream’ reflects on the frustration girls and young women experience as they grow up in a society that sets expectations they may never be able to live up to. With Rodrigo’s acknowledgement of the excuses she has made for herself, the album closer pairs well with the track that precedes it, ‘pretty isn’t pretty’, a song that sounds as timeless as its lyrics about self-worth and beauty standards.
‘pretty isn’t pretty’ is one of two tracks on ‘GUTS’ on which Rodrigo and long-time collaborator Dan Nigro let a third co-writer join their tight creative team. Amy Allen and Julia Michaels, two of the most prolific songwriters of their generation, proved to be the perfect women to help a young songwriter detangle the topics of inadequacy and love respectively. Michaels – who has penned a multitude of gut-wrenching ballads such as Selena Gomez’s ‘Lose You To Love Me’ to name one – brought her scepticism of love to the writing room when working with Rodrigo on ‘logical’, a piano ballad that reflects on all the crazy, illogical things someone can make you believe when you fall for the wrong person.
‘GUTS’, as the internet quickly established, is for “the 20-year-old teenage girls”. Young women whose teenage years are long gone and who are now left feeling like their life has been put on hold by a pandemic that robbed them of their last careless years, partially stunting their growth.
Though young, Rodrigo has lived more and experienced different kinds of relationships, situationships, and bonds since ‘SOUR’, and this can be seen in the way ‘GUTS’ approaches those same topics. ‘Bigger’ topics are viewed under the uniquely mature-ish, and yet young-ish, lense of a nineteen-year-old girl who could’ve been forced to grow up too soon, too fast.
For a debut album by a seventeen-year-old, ‘SOUR’ was a breakthrough, a piece of work that was rightfully showered with acclaim, success, and recognition. ‘GUTS’ is a good follow-up that manages to elevate that first piece of work – does it also succeed in bringing more to the table? Creating as much of a moment as ‘SOUR’s was never meant to be an easy task, and perhaps had ‘GUTS’ not had this as a burden, it would have been possible to give it its flowers free of buts and yes, but…
‘GUTS’ is a good sophomore album, Olivia Rodrigo is just a twenty-year-old girl, and perhaps we’re just part of the problem.
Written by Benns Borgese
GEM Magazine 