Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album, Guts, was released on September 8th, 2023. Following up the success of her 2021 debut album, Sour, Olivia had been amassing hype and excitement for her next move. She preceded the album with “vampire,” “bad idea right?,” and “get him back!,” all three of which went top ten in the charts. Upon release, Guts had accumulated 60 million streams on Spotify in its first 24 hours. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, Olivia had cemented her name once more as a staple in the pop industry. All 12 tracks charted in the top 40 of the Hot 100, with “vampire” reaching number one on multiple occasions. Following up Sour was going to be no easy feat, but Olivia matched the commercial success with ease.
Background
2021 saw Olivia reaching the stars, releasing her debut project, Sour, and winning numerous Grammys and a plethora of other accolades. In late 2021, Olivia began work on Guts, claiming the project was bound to be happier than her prior release. Throughout 2022, Rodrigo continued teasing the project, as she had successfully begun to build hype, continually teasing the project through 2022. Rodrigo had released the lead single, “vampire,” on June 30th. Four days prior, she had released the title and release date. It wasn’t for another three months until the project was released to the public, and it was met with immediate acclaim.
Vocal Performance
Starting with Olivia’s vocals, the album starts at a high note. Early on, she provides a more rock feel to the album, and part of it is displayed through her voice. She sounds good in this style, although the slower songs suit her much more. Moving further into the album, she does bring her normal pop style, which of course sounds wonderful; however, she brings a much slower feel on some songs. Notoriously, I do not like slower, softer songs; however, Olivia does it very well. I didn’t find myself bored with her slower vocals at all, and I feel this again is something she is truly one of the best at doing. Her vocals are a highlight of this album, and they tie wonderfully into the instrumental.
Production
The production is outstanding on this album. The sole cited producer on the project is Dan Nigro, and he deserves his praise. He brings his all and does it well. The production here, to me, is the selling point of this record. The different styles never feel out of place. This is a pop album, with rock songs, and it all meshed quite well. Early on, she uses drums and electric guitars to bring her rock style, but the later into the album you get, the more pop it is. The second half of the album features pianos which were backed by strings. The small touches, like those of the strings on “teenage dream,” are some of the focal points of the listening experience on this project.
Moving past the basic instruments utilized, Olivia and her production team paid attention to all the small details. The transitions from song to song was masterfully done, making the listening experience a seamless process. The knocking she used to transition from “all American Bitch” to “bad idea right?” certainly left an impression on detail for me. Although a basic transition, it perfectly moves along with the immature relationship styles to me, which was built on in “bad idea right?” There are a handful of smaller details that we could analyze, however, I feel that transition does the album perfect justice.
Lyricism/Meaning
Olivia is notable for her emotionally filled tracks, and Guts is no short of those. The whole album is Olivia talking about complex relationship problems, and you could tell she is singing for a purpose. She illustrates the awkwardness and stressfulness of teenage relationships and is often talking about such in specific stories created throughout the songs. At least half of the album features these stories about the negatives of these relationships, but there are times she is trying to get back into relationships. A few songs also detail the negatives of her rise to fame, and she believes there are too many stresses that come with it. All in all, she brings a lot of emotionally packed lines in these songs and capitalizes in all aspects of such.
Conclusion
While Guts does not live up fully to the nature of Sour, it certainly is a wonderful follow up in her career. The production on a majority of the songs utilizes very interesting techniques that give each track a unique sound. Olivia’s vocals were again on point here, although they didn’t live up to the nature of her debut album. All in all, Guts was certainly a serviceable release that deserves the traction it has gained in the four short months since its release.
Weakest Track: “pretty isn’t pretty” brings the least to the project. The production on this track is weak to say the least. Olivia sounds alright on this track, however, it seems like this song was supposed to be a slower pop hit like “vampire,” and it just failed to do so. The song is too mellow, as it doesn’t seem like it knows what it wants to be.
Strongest Track: The highlight of the project is certainly “vampire.” The genius nature of the title of this track, a man sucking the life and power out of her, was wonderful. Olivia’s vocals are certainly top notch here, holding a wonderful scene in the climax of the chorus, not breaking a breath for most of it, all the while hitting high notes. The mesh of softness and upbeat feel in the song is just the cherry on top of this wonderful pop hit.
Song Rankings:
- “vampire”
- “love is embarrassing”
- “ballad of a homeschooled girl”
- “the grudge”
- “all-american b***h”
- “lacy”
- “making the bed”
- “logical”
- “bad idea right?”
- “teenage dream”
- “get him back!”
- “pretty isn’t easy”
Final Notes
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