Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, was released this week. So, as did most other college/school-aged women, I checked it out.
1. All-american b***h
If you liked the Barbie movie, you’ll like this song. In a switch between punk and folk sounds, Rodrigo explores the paradox of women’s societal roles. In parts sung with a feathery-sounding voice that is sometimes a whisper, Rodgrigo explores the idyllic standards women are held to in society. Singing things like “I’m as fresh as the air,” she exemplifies how naturally unnatural women are expected to act. Contrasted with the loud screams, she cuts the fantasy to show her actual discomfort with these harmful and toxic standards. Notably, Rodrigo brings up her “perfect” lips and hips, followed by “I know my place, and this is it,” in the punk parts of the song to emphasize how grossly women are sexualized and objectified in society.
Overall, I think it works great as the intro to this album as these expectations are also heightened for Rodrigo as someone with more status between now and the release of her debut album SOUR. Her smallest actions are watched and recorded more than ever, making these standards even harder to live up to 100% of the time, a common theme brought up later throughout the album. I am obsessed with this song because I absolutely loved “brutal” in the SOUR album. It is perfect for driving alone, or anytime you want to let go of other thoughts because the song is so consumable.
Favorite part: “All the time/I’m grateful all the time/I’m sexy and I’m kind/I’m pretty when I cry”
2. Bad idea right?
This one has been out for a while, and I love it. It’s highly theorized to be about Joshua Basset because of hints in the music video with the “ex,” who plays the guitar and lives in apartment 22, coincidentally the date of Joshua Basset’s birthday (December 22, 2002). That said, Olivia did officially state the song started off as a joke with her friends, which then turned into an actual song. I like to believe the joke began with her seeing Joshua last summer at the release of the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 3 premiere, but who is to say, really?
Sonically, I love the punk-pop sound of this song. The adlibs add a perfectly hilarious undertone of relatability to the music, emphasizing just how bad of an idea it is and how easy it is for her mind to convince herself otherwise. I love the guitar riff in the back/end of the song as she says, “My brain goes ‘ahhhh,’ can’t hear my thoughts,” highlighting how she is completely wrapped up in the thrill of reuniting with said ex rather than him himself.
My favorite part: the guitar riff, soon followed by “my brain goes ‘ahhhh'”
3. Vampire
Released in June, this was the song Olivia introduced the public to when beginning promotions for the album. Singing about her “famous among famous people,” very well-off, club promoter, ex-boyfriend Zack Bia, Rodrigo begins the song as a woeful ballad bringing up a “castle built off people you pretend to care about,” cutting deeply into Zach’s reputation. After calling him a vampire, the song’s tempo speeds up as the lyrics shift to reflect on her own feelings during the relationship rather than just tearing him down. The song climaxes as Rodrigo reconciles the power imbalance of this relationship as she is left feeling entirely used by the person she sings about. Generally, this song is relatable to anyone who dated someone who exists in a different world from their own. This song expresses the feeling of realizing you were just a token or accessory in someone’s life, something they occasionally wore and harbored to make themselves look better without doing the same for you.
Favorite part: “cuz how you think’s the kind of thing I’ll never understand”
4. lacy
In a soft, melodic acoustic song, Rodrigo breaks up the album with “lacy” as a step away from the upsets of her previous relationships. Describing “lacy” as someone she is both in love with and envious of, Rodrigo describes how she desperately wants to forget Lacy’s existence but simply cannot. This song sounds like “angel dust,” which Rodrigo describes lacy as being made from in the middle of the song. The whispers at the end of the piece emphasize the vulnerability of admitting these feelings for Lacy, not wanting to shout them ever, but secretly sharing them. There is a debate that this song is either about Madison Beer (famous singer and Zach Bia’s ex) or Sabrina Carpenter (famous singer and Joshua Basset’s ex). I think it is about both, as while Sabrina Carpenter looks more like a “[Brigitte] Bardot reincarnate”, Rodrigo also mentions the compliments Lacy has given her, which brings to mind interviews in which Madison Beer has mentioned and expressed her respect and admiration for Rodrigo’s talent.
My favorite part: the backtrack and adlibs right after the “angel dust” line
5. ballad of a homeschooled girl
This song is so funny and honest. I love it. Describing all the small social mistakes she has made in public settings, Rodrigo laments how she feels her every action leads to “social suicide.” From lines like “social suicide” and “everything I do is tragic”, this song makes nods to the iconic 2004 coming-of-age film, Mean Girls, where the previously homeschooled main character, Kady, starts high school. These nods were genius of Rodrigo to make as not only will her young audience catch the references, but the chorus sonically sounds like it could have been popular when the movie was released, making it all the more fitting.
Favorite part: the “ah” ‘s about a third in followed by the part about her party crush being gay
6. Making the bed
This woman is a Pisces, and if you do not care about astrology, know this song is Pisces-coded. Rodrigo is very reflective in this song, analyzing her behaviors and disappointment in her decisions. The heavy base in this song underlines the heavy heart in which she admits her own fault in her dissatisfaction with her life. The song’s title refers to the expression “You made your bed, now lie in it”, a comment someone may receive after complaining about the consequences of their actions. In this song, Rodrigo complains about her decisions and is the one to tell herself she’s “making the bed”, proving her self-awareness of her wrong choices. The line “pull the sheets over my head” signifies how, despite now enjoying the life she has “made” for herself, she wants to continue to hide in the “sheets” that are her life rather than clean them or get out of bed entirely.
My favorite part: “and I’m playing the victim so well in my head”
7. Logical
This song is so devastating (and I mean that as a compliment). In “logical” Rodrigo reflects on her experience in a relationship that made her toxically delusional as she believed things that were clearly untrue. Likely about Zack Bia, who she started dating in February; many lyrics in this song parallel those used in “vampire” such as referring to a “master manipulator”, a “giant castle with walls so high”, and the line “you lied, you lied, you lied”. In the chorus, Rodrigo compares her delusions in the relationship to thinking “two plus two equals five” and asks herself why she could not stop herself from believing things that were clearly wrong. Notably, she also lists phrases that her ex told her, saying, “I was ‘too young’, ‘too soft’, ‘can’t take a joke’ can’t get you off”, proving once again how toxic her partner was towards her. You can hear the desperation in Rodrigo’s voice throughout the song, especially towards the end after the bridge, as she questions why she ever thought she could “change” her partner. As a fan of the song “favorite crime” off her first album and of Madison Beer’s song “Reckless,” I quickly loved how heartbreaking the piano is in this song.
My favorite part: THE BRIDGE
8. Get him back!
This is easily one of my favorite tracks off the album. “get him back!” describes the paradox of wanting to purposely hurt someone you love after they’ve wronged you. Cheerfully, Rodrigo explains how she misses her ex but also wants to punch him and key his car. This song also proves Rodrigo is a Pisces throughout the entire bridge and, especially with the line “I wanna break his heart then be the one to stitch it up”. This song is fun and puts you in a good mood; I love it. Also, fun fact, Rodrigo’s dad is a therapist, so the line “I am my father’s daughter so maybe I can fix him” is a literal nod to his occupation of “fixing” people with various problems.
Favorite part: “I want to meet his mom and tell her her son sucks” REAL
9. Love is embarrassing
“love is embarrassing” is so looking back on that middle school to high school situationship coded. It describes all the silly things people feel and are willing to do when they love someone. The fast tempo of this song coincides with the heart-racing feeling of being embarrassed and the quickness of the relationship Rodrigo is describing as she even calls her ex-partner a “loser who’s not worth mentioning”. If you must defend your type in men to your friends before you even start dating someone, this song is for you. If you have ever asked yourself, “Why am I crying over a stupid boy?”, this song is also for you. Overall, I love how danceable and bright this song is, taking a tongue-in-cheek perspective on ex-relationships.
Favorite part: “you found a new version of me and i damn near started world war 3.” REAL
10. The grudge
There is so much to unpack with this song. In a general sense, it is about trying to reconcile how she can still love someone who has betrayed her trust so much. If you ever felt unable to express how you really feel because you are scared of confrontation, you may find this song relatable, too. Production-wise, this song is highly reminiscent of her debut hit “drivers license”, and makes a lot of lyrical references or parallels to songs in her debut album SOUR. Given the references made to so many SOUR songs like “traitor”, “enough for you”, “happier” in addition to the “Friday in May” line (of which Rodrigo has admitted a Friday in May was when a boyfriend [Joshua Bassett] broke up with her giving inspiration to write “one step forward, two steps back”) has caused many people to believe it may be about Joshua Bassett.
However, another half of the internet thinks it may be about Taylor Swift. Olivia Rodrigo used to famously be a Taylor Swift stan/Swiftie but has noticeably distanced herself from Taylor Swift since 2021. The distance grew significantly after the time Rodrigo “voluntarily”, under legal pressures, gave Taylor Swift songwriting credits, and therefore the right to 50% of the royalties, on two of her songs off her debut album, SOUR. The betrayal and remaining admiration for a person described in “the grudge” therefore can be interpreted as Rodrigo’s perspective on the situation’s aftermath. Regardless of your thoughts, it is a beautiful and highly vulnerable song. The song also ends with an unfinished sentence/thought. Rodrigo says, “it takes strength to forgive but…” highlighting her inability to fully describe and conclude her thoughts on the situation, which is all the more relatable and heart-wrenching.
Favorite part: “but even after all this, you’re still everything to me”
11. Pretty isn’t pretty
While many songs on this album are about romantic heartbreak, this song adds to the underlying theme of Rodrigo feeling inadequate or unable to keep up with the expectations and trends that women are subject to follow. Similarly to “all-american b***h” and “lacy”, Rodrigo describes many things she could do or feels like she should do to make herself fit in with standards for women. Lyrically, this song is reminiscent of Rodrigo’s song “jealousy, jealousy” off her debut album. However, in “pretty isn’t pretty”, Rodrigo can conclude that these standards are unfair and she will always be made to feel less than others because of how society treats women and their bodies/appearances.
Favorite part: “none of it matters and none of it ends”
12. Teenage dream
This song is the perfect ending to this album as a response to both “all-american b***h” and “brutal”, the intro song to SOUR. Rodrigo reflects a lot on her age and the increase in it since her debut in 2021. In “brutal”, Rodrigo famously says, “I’m so sick of seventeen, where’s my f***ing teenage dream?”, so in naming the last song of this album “teenage dream” Rodrigo admits she never got to enjoy the “teenage dream” as has been described by so western many media pieces throughout time. Her apologies to the audience for not being able to share experiences of an epic all-consuming love the way so many people expected. Rodrigo’s age is a prominent motif throughout GUTS, so opening the song questioning the meaning of her age is possibly her way of recognizing that her experiences have partially resulted from not being allowed to live as a regular nineteen-year-old girl. Having reached the end of her teenage years, Rodrigo uses this song to mourn the innocence and freedom to make mistakes as a teenager that she will lose as she gets older. The final audio of the album is of Rodrigo speaking to her producer Dan Nigro’s baby, which is a sentimental way to wrap up the album with a hopeful message despite the unanswered question asked throughout the rest of the song. As Rodrigo enters young adulthood and as the baby grows up, the two still have their whole lives ahead of them.
Favorite part: “got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only nineteen”
13. OBSESSED [bonus track]
This track is only available if you buy and listen to the album on vinyl. Or if you have TikTok. It is a very flirty pop-punk song and is 1000000000% about Madison Beer. I wish this was available for streaming because I need to add it to so many playlists.
OVERALL
This album was very well done. Rodrigo said the name GUTS came from the thought that “guts” as a word can be used to name so many things, whether it’s intuition, bravery, nervousness, or sadness–all of which are emotions she experienced and wanted to convey throughout the album. She definitely did so, exploring the intricacies of dating as a pop star who is still a teenager just trying to figure out her life, in this album Rodrigo is somehow, even more self-aware and self-critical than she was in SOUR. In my opinion, this was the perfect follow-up album to SOUR and the perfect way to close music about her teenage years. This just makes me more excited about what comes next for her.