Embracing immaturity and wittiness with Olivia Rodrigo

 GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo
Album Review

    Californian singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Rodrigo came out this month with her sophomore full length album, "GUTS". Grabbing the attention of everyone even mildly interested in music. Olivia saw great success with her debut "SOUR", which debuted at #1 and broke multiple records, such as earning the biggest opening week for an album by a female artist on Spotify and earning her a Grammy for "Best New Artist" and a nomination for "Best Album". Critically she was also received with critical acclaim, with multiple 80+ reviews. Personally I was not a big fan of the release, I saw it as a strong effort that showed a lot of hope for the Californian singer-songwriter's future, but with tons of repetitive lyrical themes and weak ballads that I couldn't quite dig, SOUR didn't make quite an impact on me.

    2 full years later, and after *almost* leaving the public consciousness, Olivia Rodrigo started teasing a new project around June 2023, and on June 30th Rodrigo released the first teaser in "vampire", Which is one of my favourite tracks of 2023 so far and definitely got me even more excited about her sophomore album, it's a power ballad that builds up really well throughout and along with Rodrigo's strong vocal performance and a beautiful instrumentalization and production.

    The second teaser for the album was "bad idea right". Unlike vampire, bad idea right is a return to the Olivia we saw in songs like "good 4 u", with a power pop attitude and spoken word vocals with a very witty attitude, attitude that you see all throughout the album in other songs, like "ballad of a homeschooled girl" and "get him back!". I love bad idea right and in general I love how creative Olivia can get when in a very loose lyrical mindset. It does drag a bit I feel with the part before the distorted guitar solo, but overall a very fun single.

    The album starts with "all american bitch", a song that sets the theme for the album; the line "I know my age, and I act like it" is a theme throughout the entire album, at times she regrets being "too stupid" to realize some things, but at others she celebrates being young. That being said, the song itself isn't too strong, with a transition from slow verse to fast chorus that doesn't happen quite as naturally as I would like.

    Fourth song lacy is another great take from the record, treating an obsession of Olivia's with this individual, that probably comes from the depressive mental state Rodrigo finds herself in and her seeing the support of Lacy as the saving grace, and her idolizing that figure. The song is orchestrated mostly simply, with an arpeggiated guitar and some bass, only to breakdown with a wall of synths and a screaming Olivia. the whole theme of ballad that builds up and has a majestic part seems very frequent in GUTS, songs like vampire, making the bed and closer teenage dream all feature that and it does feel fresh every time.

    seventh track "logical" is the biggest dud on the album for me, despite featuring my favourite line on the record:

“And I fell for you like water

Falls from the February sky

But now the current's stronger

No, I couldn't get out if I tried”

Aside from that beautiful line, logical just feels very weak, its chorus is just so cheesy and the hook just doesn't hook well at all:

"And now you got me thinkin'

Two plus two equals five

And I'm the love of your life"

Following that, we have my personal favourite song on the entire record. "get him back" is just everything I love in GUTS and it's power pop efforts in one song, the lyrics are at its wittiest and are so ironic, playing with the dichotomy of breaking up with someone you still feel very attracted to (which is also present in the title, get him back may mean getting back together with him, or getting back at him, punishing him just like she was) starting a phrase with a sentence that expresses apparent love for this individual, just to break it in the following one, this gets very explicit in the bridge, for example:

"Oh, I wanna key his car, I wanna make him lunch

I wanna break his heart, stitch it right back up 

I wanna kiss his face with an uppercut 

I wanna meet his mom, and tell her her son sucks, yeah"

"get him back" gets followed up by a similar paced "love is embarassing", which is another song with a great hook and witty lyrics, talking about non-reciprocal self sacrifice in a relationship. Then it slows down in the grudge, a  great track about an abusive relationship Olivia can't quite forgive, with lyrics that hit hard.

"pretty isn't pretty" is a fresh look for the album, with a vibe that is very similar to that of songs from The Cure, for example. it talks about self acceptance and not liking what you see in the mirror. It's one of my favourite deep cuts on the album and doesn't stay its welcome.

The LP closes with teenage dream, a beautiful ballad that talks about what it's like growing up under the spotlight. It goes pretty much like vampire, lacy and other tracks, that build up and become something beautiful in the end. "teenage dream" does it much more radically than those other circumstances, the track ends with a beautiful breakdown with a screaming Rodrigo, ending the album with a big question mark:

“Yeah, they all say that it gets better

It gets better, but what if I don't?”

Final thoughts:

    GUTS is a beautiful album that touches on a more varied array of subjects than SOUR, though a lot of the songs are about an ex, she approaches it in different ways, and with a lot less anger this time. That being said I still see the repeating narratives as kind of tiring and would've liked some songs with different lyrical themes like those featured in lacy, making the bed, pretty isn't pretty and teenage dream.

    Olivia feels more creative than ever on her sophomore, recognizing when to approach lyrical themes in a sarcastic tone, and when to approach it in a serious one. Aside from that the instrumentals feel fresh at every turn, and even in the rarely broken dichotomy of power pop and indie folk, the ideas in the album are great and make you entertained throughout the entire record.

    GUTS is a massive hit, with some flaws and some stumbles here and there. But the overall product is impressive, and a clear improvement on the ideas presented on SOUR and I'm so excited for the future of Olivia Rodrigo as an artist and her future endeavors

Favourite tracks: bad idea right?, vampire, get him back, pretty isn't pretty, teenage dream

Worst track: logical

Final score: 8/10