In May 2021, seventeen year old Olivia Rodrigo broke the internet. A little over two years later, she’s entered her twenties and is ready to do it all over again. From her humble beginnings on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series to touring the world and taking home trophies at award shows, Rodrigo has evolved from child star to pop sensation. Olivia Rodrigo’s highly anticipated album GUTS, a follow up to her Grammy-winning debut album SOUR, was finally released on September 8th, 2023. While the anticipation and excitement has been buzzing on the internet, one question has been on everyone’s minds: can GUTS live up to the award-winning SOUR?
Rodrigo most definitely keeps up the purple theme from SOUR and translates it to GUTS. On the album cover, the twenty year old lies on a purple background adorned with a new accessory: her four silver guts rings. I’m one of those people who needs to listen to an album at least five times before I can form opinions on it, but even from first listen, I could sense a significant difference between Rodrigo’s first and second album. In an interview with the Today Show, Rodrigo said, “I think the first album was very much about heartbreak…I think this time around I was just more thinking about the pressures of young adulthood and the growing pains that come along with turning twenty” (TODAY). While her sophomore album is definitely a big transition from her debut, there are still similarities between the two.
The Disney Channel alum released two singles, vampire and bad idea right?, off of GUTS as a precursor to her album. On June 30, 2023, Rodrigo released her first single, vampire, and it instantly started trending on the internet with theories and questions about who the revealing song was about. Vampire starts out as a chilling piano melody and morphs into a heartbreaking ballad with a head-banging drumbeat and bridge that is hard not to scream to. One reason vampire was such a huge single was because of the message behind the song. Rodrigo sings about a past boyfriend who used her for her naivety and newfound fame, comparing them to a vampire. People of all ages can relate to what Rodrigo sings about in her single, which makes the fans feel more connected to the artist. She also alludes to a significant age gap in the relationship, singing, “Can’t figure out just how you do it, and God knows I never will/Went for me, and not her/’Cause girls your age know better.” Twenty-year old Rodrigo hints through her lyrics that this person took advantage of her innocence and young age to manipulate her, similar to what Taylor Swift sings about in her iconic anthem Dear John. The artist delivers some harsh blows in the verses, writing in the bridge that this person who the song is about doesn’t have a heart. One thing that the listener can take away from this song is not to get on Olivia Rodrigo’s bad side unless you want her to flame you in her songs.
GUTS is a mashup of rock songs to yell to and heartbreaking serenades to cry to. Bad idea right?, ballad of a homeschooled girl, get him back! and love is embarrassing being the more upbeat songs. As teens mature and grow, their feelings and opinions about love are constantly changing. In love is embarrassing and get him back! Rodrigo sings about the highs and lows of love as a teenager. One stereotype of teenagers is that they find everything embarrassing, and Rodrigo clearly plays into it in love is embarrassing, hence the title. Rodrigo sings about her standards for a partner being so low that it’s embarrassing, singing, “And now, it don’t mean a thing/God love’s f***ing embarrassing/Just watch as I crucify myself/For some weird second string/Loser who’s not worth mentioning.” In the song, Rodrigo ridicules herself for letting love lead her to making stupid decisions. Get him back! chronicles Rodrigo’s quest to get back an ex-boyfriend by making him jealous and angry. In the first verse, she describes meeting this guy and dismissing red flags like seeing him flirt with her friends. Her emotions conflict with her logic, causing her to be confused and sing, “Do I love him? Do I hate him? Guess it’s up and down.” Throughout the song, Rodrigo describes how she is at a fork in the road between love and hate and her opinion changes multiple times in just one verse.
One of the most underrated and gut-wrenching songs of the album, in my opinion, is pretty isn’t pretty. While the drum beats in the background, it doesn’t take away from the song’s heartbreaking lyrics about the impossibly high beauty standards and never feeling like you’re enough. Rodrigo sings that pretty isn’t pretty enough for the world that we live in and it feels like there is no way to win. She sings, “I could change up my body and change up my face/I could try every lipstick in every shade/But I’d always feel the same/’Cause pretty isn’t pretty enough.” Arguably the most relatable song on the album, Rodrigo perfectly portrays what it’s like to mature in a world of social media and constant pressure to look and be someone else’s definition of perfect.
Once SOUR was released, the spotlight on Rodrigo multiplied exponentially from her Disney Channel days and catapulted her into international fame. Becoming famous overnight sounds like a dream to most, but Rodrigo reveals the complexities behind young fame in the album’s last track, teenage dream. As Rodrigo reaches a turning point in her life turning twenty and leaving her adolescence in the rearview, she writes about the high expectations for her career she’s had to live up to and the toll that being deemed a teenage prodigy has had on her. She starts the song by asking questions like, “When am I going to stop being/wise beyond my years and/just start being wise?/When am I gonna stop being/a pretty young thing to guys?/When am I gonna stop being/great for my age and just start/being good?” This is Rodrigo questioning herself and her talents. Is she talented or just talented for her young age? The artist expresses her concerns about not getting better with age and being forever defined by her accomplishments she made as a teen for the rest of her life. This doubt and anxiety is emphasized in the song’s ending, where Rodrigo builds up from whispering to belting her deepest worries, repeating the lyrics, “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?”
Every time Olivia Rodrigo releases new music, it seems like she’s all over the internet and ready to take the world by storm, literally and figuratively. Rodrigo recently announced the GUTS World Tour where she will be screaming all of the songs above and more across the globe. When SOUR was released, Rodrigo was deemed a teenage singer on the rise and pop prodigy. Now after the release of GUTS, she’s entering adulthood as an international superstar with millions of fans behind her.
For a more in depth analysis on Olivia Rodrigo’s evolution from SOUR to GUTS, check out Katie Galligan’s article on growing up with Rodrigo.
Good Riddance Album Review: Gracie Abrams Digs Deeper in her 2nd Studio Album
