Label: Geffen/Interscope
Released: 8th September 2023
In the world of Olivia Rodrigo, the last few years have been stormy. Catapulted to the highest of highs with her ground-breaking, record-smashing debut album ‘SOUR’, the now 20-year-old soon found herself with new grounds to navigate. Beloved for her knack of chronicling a true experience of teenage girlhood, she was suddenly in the midst of a kind of celebrity that few could relate to. It would be easy to imagine that the follow-up would be lacking in the resonance her debut was celebrated for. Yet, Olivia Rodrigo has always exceeded expectations – ‘GUTS’ smashes that idea completely.
She may be in a unique situation, but on ‘GUTS’, Olivia still reaches for the cornerstones of new adulthood that are universal. The gut-wrenching, spiralling emotions, the newfound highs of freedom, the desperation to be taken seriously as a woman and the constant second-guessing of the self; all of them are brought to vivid, hard-hitting life. Anger exploded into being on ‘SOUR’, a ferocious, untameable fire raging through the album. On ‘GUTS’, it’s a slow-burning, simmering fury that has raged quietly on. It’s harnessed more carefully here. It goes without saying that Olivia always allows herself the freedom to make quick quips and eye-rolling remarks – “I want to meet your mom, just to tell her her son sucks” – but there’s another layer to the biting, acidic moments. She has never taken any prisoners, but on her sophomore effort, Olivia seems to have found a self-awareness that perhaps wasn’t there before. She owns her faults, acknowledges her less-pleasant moments and is overall far more considered.
it’s a formidable second album that leaves Olivia Rodrigo ready to face whatever is thrown her way next.
There’s no more sobbing at the wheel of the car anymore – ‘GUTS’ is a rollercoaster ride with stomach-dropping lows and adrenaline-filled highs. You feel the delirium of a midnight bad decision just as equally as the regretful weight of it the next day. On ‘ballad of a homeschooled girl’, every inch of social awkwardness is felt with a wince, whilst the revengeful, rocky ‘get him back!’ has you wishing karmic retribution on a man you’ve never met on Olivia’s behalf. ‘love is embarrassing’ is pure pop-rock perfection, delivered with a mortified groan, whilst the hazy guitars of ‘pretty isn’t pretty’ implicate you directly in the struggle to keep up she faces. Olivia’s vocals are as powerful and telling of her feelings as ever, but she has hardened on this release – the guitars are louder, her words are wittier, and the tracks are bigger.
There was an irreplicable magic on ‘SOUR’, so Olivia doesn’t bother trying to recreate it. ‘GUTS’ is a different beast – an ode to the angsty, aching final days of being a teenager and girlhood, it’s a formidable second album that leaves Olivia Rodrigo ready to face whatever is thrown her way next.
