In the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the entertainment world was hit with a shockwave: Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR. On January 8, 2021, the High School Musical: The Musical: The series star sent her teenage fans into upheaval with the release of her breakout lead single, “Driver’s License.” After debuting atop the Billboard Hot 100 with months of mainstream success, the song was followed by the debut of Rodrigo’s first album, SOUR, further heightening her immense popularity. Combining teenage-rage with heartbreak ballads, the album seemed to create unrealistically high expectations for her heavily anticipated future releases. It would take two-and-a-half years for Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, to find a home on streaming platforms. Over a week into its release, here is where we stand:
After the success of SOUR, it was impossible to know whether GUTS would hit the sophomore slump. What kind of songs would the album contain? Would they sound similar to those of SOUR? Would the album be cohesive? These are all valid questions, which can not be answered without taking a deep dive into GUTS’ tracklist.
Tracklist:
all-american (explicit)
bad idea right?
vampire
lacy
ballad of a homeschooled girl
making the bed
logical
get him back!
love is embarrassing
the grudge
pretty isn’t pretty
teenage dream
Singles – bad idea right?, vampire: Let’s start with GUTS’ two lead singles. Each boasts different elements, but both are unapologetically Olivia. “bad idea right?” highlights one of Rodrigo’s teenage experiences, which automatically makes it relatable to most listeners. We all have lapses in judgment, right? This song was her outlet to express that point. Conversely, “vampire” places Rodrigo in the role of the one who was wronged. I think the decision to make these two songs the lead singles off the album was a perfect choice, as it highlights two of the most distinguishable experiences for a teenage girl. The selection also helps listeners who are unfamiliar with Rodrigo’s songwriting to recognize both her lyrical diversity, and her ability to convey two completely different events with similarly provoking enthusiasm.
“all-american (Explicit)” is a song that Rodrigo has, on many occasions, referred to as her favorite track on the album. In a recent interview with ELLE, she said, “I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I’ve been trying to express since I was 15 years old.” The song tackles the topic of society’s expectations of women, and specifically, young girls. The literary elements displayed in the lyrics of the song take you on a journey during which Rodrigo satirically lays out these expectations, and follows that by mocking the idea of conforming to any of them. It’s a nice back-and-forth that works well for conveying the message of the song.
In addition to the former, there are other songs on GUTS that also express the feelings in the mind of a teenage girl, such as: “lacy”, “pretty isn’t pretty”, “teenage dream”, and “ballad of a homeschooled girl.” Each discusses topics ranging from jealousy and insecurity, to growing into adulthood and feeling isolated from the rest of the world. In “teenage dream” specifically, Rodrigo is questioning the concept that everything in her life will get better as she grows.
“They all say that it gets better/but what if I don’t?”
While expressing this fear in a general sense, it can also be inferred that she is afraid that the art she has already made is the best that she is ever going to make. This goes hand in hand with the pressure she must have been feeling while constructing her sophomore album after the success of SOUR.
Furthermore, Songs like “making the bed”, “logical”, and “love is embarrassing” are areas in which GUTS truly distinguishes itself from SOUR. I find “making the bed” to be her most poignant track, in that it’s a callout of accountability for the many mistakes she believes she has made. In “logical”, she also sings about a relatable feeling: loving someone so deeply that you’re blinded to all their flaws and the drama that comes with it. The song veers off from many of the more juvenile viewpoints expressed on SOUR and instead displays Rodrigo’s emotional growth. “the grudge” is also one of her more relatable songs. Rodrigo sings about having her ‘trust betrayed’ by someone very close to her. She sings about having ‘undying love’ for the person in question but comes to the conclusion that she ultimately can’t forgive whatever it was they did to her.
“get him back!” is without a doubt Rodrigo’s most creative track on GUTS. “Just the song title alone – “get him back!” – you’ve got the double meaning of like, I want him back, and I also want revenge,” said Rodrigo. A song like this is definitely something we hadn’t previously seen in Olivia’s discography, but it perfectly demonstrates the conflicting feelings of a heartbroken teenager, thus further appealing to her audience’s visceral inclinations.
I think the most overlooked part of this album its cohesiveness. Throughout the tracklist, Rodrigo stays true to the commonly crafted theme of spilling her GUTS. She certainly displays growth from SOUR, with a far superior mix of angsty production and beautiful ballads (multiple songs even contain components of both). Being a teenager, moving into adulthood, and experiencing heartbreak, jealousy, and self loathing, is something everyone in Rodrigo’s audience demographic can relate to, which is why, partnered with her flawless delivery, this album is already on its way to becoming a pop/indie classic.
