GUTS

A masterclass on love and life with Olivia Rodrigo

After a long two years, popstar Olivia Rodrigo is back and more confident than ever with the release of her highly anticipated sophomore album GUTS, finally out for the world to behold. The uproarious second album from Rodrigo is a collection of bratty rocker-chick anthems that could slot into the soundtrack of any classic high school flick : ‘It’s not a complete reinvention of the first album, but it’s new and fresh’ , Rodrigo said in a recent Rolling Stone cover story. Rodrigo is at her best when she leans into the theme of a woman coming of age, and she expands on it in GUTS by asking bigger questions about life and love whilst still developing the ideas she introduced us to with SOUR: heartbreak, teenage angst and jealousy.

Rodrigo’s first album SOUR was written at age seventeen, whilst GUTS is predominantly written (alongside her collaborator and producer Daniel Nigro) in her final gruesome year of being a teenager at age nineteen. Despite there only being a short period of twenty-four months between the two albums, the growth in her lyricism and outlook on love and life is exceedingly apparent on GUTS.

The thematic content of SOUR was centred upon a fickle former lover who betrays Rodrigo’s trust and moves on too quickly, with happier, enough for you, and favorite crime being among the songs from her debut album which touch upon the subject. However, GUTS displays a vulnerability that is accentuated in comparison to her earlier work, as well as a notably more mature perspective on her relationships, heartbreak and selfworth. This sophomore body of work delves into diverse themes previously not discussed in the popstar’s work, including the societal expectations set for women to be perfect at all times (in all-american bitch and pretty isn’t pretty), the urge to rekindle an old flame with a former partner in a series of poor decisions (bad idea right?), being exploited by an older partner (vampire), forgiveness (or lack thereof, in the grudge), social anxiety (ballad of a home-schooled girl), revenge (get him back!) and also dealing with the internal conflict from the new life that fame has thrust upon her (making the bed and teenage dream).

The opening track of GUTS, all-american bitch, captures every essence of Rodrigo’s newest musical era - Rodrigo’s writing is witty, sharp and endearingly strange, with moments of dry, dark humour. Both of Rodrigo’s albums reflect a young woman’s internal strife and chaos as she comes of age, but GUTS explores this chaos with self-aware sarcasm rather than with selfreproach. Get him back! features Rodrigo grappling with the conflicting feelings of wanting to reconnect with a former lover, yet simultaneously wanting to inflict revenge on him:

Wanna kiss his face with an uppercut, I wanna meet his mom just to tell her her son sucks

She continues to explore the internal conflict of reuniting with an ex, in the track bad idea right?, her second single for the era :

Yes, I know that he’s my ex, but can’t two people reconnect?

This is a theme previously unexplored in SOUR, displaying her personal and emotional growth as she navigates her own relationships as a young adult.

Another piece of evidence of this evolution comes with the inclusion of the stellar powerhouse ballads, vampire, making the bed and the grudge. These songs have a distinctly Rodrigo feel to them, harking back to similar themes and styles of song explored throughout her first album. However, this is one of the first times she expresses frustration in herself for her contribution to the downfall of her relationships, and an acknowledgement of her role in their undoing; “You called them crazy, god, I hate the way I called them crazy too’’ in vampire, “I’m playing the victim so well in my head, but it’s me who’s been making the bed’’ in making the bed, and ‘’We both drew blood, but man, those cuts were never equal’’ in the grudge: all these lyrics demonstrate Rodrigo’s personal evolution and her journey towards self-accountability. Particularly in the grudge, she combines her self-awareness with the inability to forgive a partner after being wronged, a topic untouched in her debut album– “it takes strength to forgive, but I don’t feel strong’’.

A satisfying mix of grunge and pop punk, GUTS captures the essence of the transitory period between the ages of 19 and 20, as Rodrigo makes the best of her youthful anguish and turns the ritual humiliations of girlhood into dazzling, over-thetop musical spectacles. On all-american bitch —an epithet borrowed from Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem she reckons with the impossible expectations young girls face: to be sexy and virginal, selfless and ambitious, and no matter what, to be always grateful, satirising the many expectations that women face :

All the time, I’m grateful all the time, I’m sexy and I’m kind I’m pretty when I cry

Other fiery anthems on GUTS include ballad of a homeschooled girl and love is embarrassing, both of which explore the awkwardness of socialisation and of both romantic and platonic relationships. Ballad features nostalgic lyricism and describes the social fumbles of her adolescent years: tripping, stumbling on words and making simple mistakes for which Rodrigo seems unable to forgive herself : “Each time I step outside, it’s social suicide’’.

Olivia continues her self-discovery in the track love is embarrassing, detailing the rollercoaster of emotions experienced during a tumultuous teenage romantic relationship (a theme quite commonly expressed in Rodrigo’s music) :

Perhaps one of the most surprising and poetic tracks on the album, the song lacy, takes a completely different route and barely sounds like Rodrigo. Soft whispery vocals allow Rodrigo to communicate to the listener her struggles with an inferiority complex and with jealousy, as she details the beauty of the “Lacy’’ character she seems both intimidated and infatuated by. Although she touches on a similar theme in jealousy, jealousy from SOUR, it is an entirely fresh approach to this topic on GUTS as Rodrigo seems to develop a crippling obsession with someone she considers her competition :

Rodrigo therefore continues to create songs which effectively capture the essence of being young and in love, whilst allowing us all to relate to her frank and sincere songwriting and the experiences she faces.

On the whole, Rodrigo fully spills her guts in this work. The project evokes a wide array of emotions for the listener, with a wide variety of sonics, intense lyricism and a more mature and deeper understanding of her feelings surrounding heartbreak. . Rodrigo is having fun and acting her age on this album, archiving her youth and all of its overused cliches, oddities and dramatics. A perhaps unexpected sound for Rodrigo’s second album, it was an absolutely necessary project to establish Olivia Rodrigo as a master songwriter and the next global pop sensation that will be here to stay indefinitely - raising Gen Z as we navigate love, life and relationships in our twenties, side by side.

WORDS by Alice Matty