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With a grand total of 74 minutes of music at 21 years old, Olivia Rodrigo has chalked up a staggering 13 nominations and three wins already at the GRAMMY awards. With her sophomore album GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo came back with a bang, leaving behind the butterflies and heartbreak of her debut and crashing onto the scene with black nail polish, untouchable power vocals, and a badass attitude. I'll be honest, at first I was skeptical of GUTS and its distinctive departure from SOUR, but I've grown to love the cheek, messiness, and raw, overdramatic emotion across this compilation of stunning piano ballads and edgy pop-rock bangers that make Olivia a star in her own right.
Stand-out tracks: "all-american bitch" “get him back!” “the grudge”
My favorites: “making the bed” “love is embarrassing” “pretty isn’t pretty”
Don't be deceived by the simple guitar and soft vocals at the opening of "all-american bitch," GUTS is just getting started with its chaotic, overdramatic opening track. The juxtaposition between the skull-rattling chorus and lighthearted verses makes this another attention-grabber of an opening track for Olivia. And the chest-heaving screaming that immediately cuts into the "All the time/I'm grateful all the time/I'm sexy and I'm kind/I'm pretty when I cry" of the outro that also blends seamlessly into "bad idea right?" is absolutely incredible. I won't lie, I actually hated “bad idea right?” when it was released as a single, but in the context of the full album it fits perfectly, and the guitar solo bridge and the devil may care attitude of the chorus make it fun.
"vampire" served as the lead single from GUTS, marking Olivia Rodrigo's first return to music since the release of her debut SOUR in May of 2021. This one is fun to scream-sing in your car thanks to Olivia's sky-high vocals soaring through the "I used to think I was smart/But you made me look so naive/The way you sold me for parts/As you sunk your teeth into me" of the chorus, but honestly it doesn't stand out as anything incredible in the context of the full album. "lacy" is my personal skip on GUTS, but I won't deny that the vocal layering of the production on this track is nothing short of stunning.
GUTS ventures into more of a pop-rock sound than SOUR ever did, and "ballad of a homeschooled girl" is the pinnacle of Olivia Rodrigo's rockstar side. It's intentionally messy with electronically distorted vocals, fast-paced word-vomit lyrics, and therapeutically-screamed repetitive "It's social suicide. Wanna curl up and die!" This song is so utterly chaotic it almost makes you lose sight of the social anxiety narrative it's attempting to depict.
“making the bed” is one of the few tracks on GUTS that earns a place in my all-time favorite Olivia Rodrigo songs. This one is incredibly powerful, articulating with incredible detail the crushing weight of anxiety on day-to-day life and the impact it can have on relationships. “I’m so tired of being the girl that I am/Every good thing has turned into something I dread/And I’m playing the victim so well in my head/But it’s me who’s been making the bed” is a stunning way to state, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Following up “making the bed” with “logical” is about the most painful decision Olivia could have made in tracklisting; “logical” illustrates the pain of realizing that someone isn’t who you believed them to be, with gut-twisting lyrics like “You got me thinking/Two plus two equals five/and I’m the love of your life.” Ouch.
Better wipe your tears away quickly, because with “get him back!” we “wanna make him feel jealous, wanna make him feel bad.” This is Olivia Rodrigo at her best—cheeky, clever, naïve, and pissed off. The lyrical play back and forth of wanting to “get him back” either in terms of wanting to get back together or seek revenge is incredibly well executed, and “wanna meet his mom/just to tell her son sucks” is one of about a million absolutely hilarious and highly therapeutic-to-scream-sing lines in this instant hit. This theme carries into “love is embarrassing,” which is the dancier, poppier, more self-deprecating sequel to the previous track. There isn’t a whole lot of substance to this one, but “Just watch as I crucify myself/for some weird second-string/loser who's not worth mentioning/my God, love's embarrassing as hell” is yet another therapeutic-to-scream sing lyric on GUTS.
If you thought we were done with heartbreak on GUTS, “the grudge” rounds out the piano ballads with the deepest ache thus far. “You built me up to watch me fall/you have everything and you still want more” is sung with soul-crushing passion, and ending the track with open-ended “It takes strength to forgive/I’m not quite sure I’m there yet/It takes strength to forgive but…” makes the heartbreak feel palpable. This is about as close to “driver’s license” as you’ll find on GUTS.
“pretty isn’t pretty” is the other track on GUTS that is one of my all-time favorites of Olivia’s—this one feels like the introspective sequel to SOUR’s “jealousy, jealousy.” If you resonated with America Ferrera’s monologue in the Barbie movie, chances are that “pretty isn’t pretty” will hit pretty hard. Don’t be fooled by the boppy beat, “pretty isn’t pretty enough” hurts.
The messy, heartbroken chaos of GUTS concludes the only way that makes sense—with more heartbroken, messy chaos. On the surface, “teenage dream” seems to reference the lyric from SOUR’s “brutal,” when Olivia asked “Where’s my fucking teenage dream?” and structurally parallels Billie Eilish’s 2021 title-track “Happier Than Ever,” with its soft, pared-back opening that crescendos into blown-out head-banging “They all say it gets better/it gets better the more you grow/Yeah, they all say that it gets better/Well, what if I don’t.”
GRAMMY for Album of the Year
GUTS is many, many things. Defiance of a sophomore slump. A charismatic teenage addiction, a soul-searching musical rampage. A rock-solid pop-rock album. But unfortunately, GUTS is not even close to the Album of the Year. At best, GUTS could follow in SOUR's footsteps as the winner of Pop Vocal Album.
AM I OBSESSED?
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