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On September 8, 2023, Olivia Rodrigo released her second studio album, “GUTS.” Her first album, “SOUR,” did incredibly well, launching her from a Disney star to a hugely famous pop star. Often after such a huge peak like this, it is difficult for artists to live up to or top their debut. This phenomenon even has a name that people sometimes use — the “sophomore slump.” But “GUTS” certainly doesn’t fall into that category, so how was Olivia able to follow up the record-breaking success of her debut with something even better?
“SOUR” (2021) Was Peak High School Girl Angst
“SOUR” was written when Olivia was seventeen, and she branded a lot of themes of the album around that (( Olivia Rodrigo. “SOUR.” Geffen Records. Spotify. 2021. )). The first track, “brutal,” is about being sick of being a teenager, “drivers license” is about, obviously, getting your driver’s license, and many of the ballads on the album are about the intense, extreme emotions that come with your first relationship and heartbreak. The visuals of the album were a bright lavender purple and childlike smiley face and heart stickers reminiscent of the early 2000s.
The “good 4 u” music video was inspired by popular high school drama films such as Jennifer’s Body and The Princess Diaries and featured Olivia wearing a cheerleading uniform (( Ahlgrim, Callie. “Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Good 4 U’ music video is full of hidden references — here’s every detail you may have missed.” Insider, 14 May 2021. )), and she even hosted a “prom,” where she performed the album in different high school settings, such as at the prom and on the football field.
The grungier elements, when she wasn’t afraid to go outside of the box, are the highlight of her first album: the strings and loud, booming guitar in the first track, “brutal;” the distorted dead battery kind of sound towards the end of “deja vu;” the pounding bass line, and the angry sort of piano in “jealousy, jealousy.” However, the majority of the album was comprised of piano ballads. Of course, her lyrical skills on those tracks made them hits as well, but it seems like she shines the most with an angrier delivery. She channels the “scorned-lover” type of emotion so well in her voice, and that hits all that much harder with a loud, 2000s-esque guitar backing her up.
“SOUR” exemplifies the teen-angst theme to the fullest extent; it was great to hear lyrics that fully embraced the dramatics of what many teens were feeling at the time and an album atmosphere that amplified those dramatics. But that kind of theming was never going to work long-term.
Can you imagine if Olivia had released an album with a similar high school theme at the age of twenty? Her sophomore album practically had to be different, if Rodrigo wanted to continue to come up with fresh hits.
Where did she go from here?
“GUTS” (2023)
“GUTS” took everything that was great on “SOUR” and made it darker, angrier, and more mature (( Olivia Rodrigo. “GUTS.” Geffen Records. Spotify. 2023. )).
The imagery, sound, vocals, and lyrics all seem like the natural, aged-up progression of “SOUR.”
Darker Visuals
Instead of lavender, this album’s colors are dark purple a blood red, matching the themes of the lead single, “vampire.” Instead of stickers, the prominent accessories Olivia has on are messy, chipped black nail polish and chunky rings that spell out “GUTS.”
Instead of a fuzzy pink top and plaid skirt, she is wearing a black lace top with a purple bra-peaking out, and the music videos feature Olivia at award shows and Hollywood parties instead of in high school or driving around a small town.
More Of What Rodrigo’s Best At = Pop-Punk/Rock
Aside from the visuals, the sound is also aged up a bit. It seems like maybe she realized just how much she thrives with the angry backing guitars, the fast-paced piano, and the loud booming drums because this album is full of them. While “SOUR” was mainly a sad, heartbroken album with a few angrier pop-punk songs, “GUTS” is the opposite. Tracks like “logical” and “the grudge” remind me of the ballads that went on “SOUR,” but a lot of the rest of “GUTS” is full-on early 2000s pop punk, creating a grungier and angrier mood. A great example of this is in the track “get him back!” which has some of the most catchy drums I’ve ever heard.
In the early stages of heartbreak, all you feel is sad—which is emblematic of the ballads on “SOUR.” But after you’ve gone through it multiple times or have time to reflect, emotions like anger, resentment, and regret start to take over. In that way, the pop-punk songs make more sense for this album.
There are a few lines that she sings that really make her personality shine right through the song, such as in “get him back!” with the lyric “And when I told him how he hurt me, / he’d tell me I was trippin’ / But I am my father’s daughter, / so maybe I can fix him,” as well as the lyric “And I’m sure I’ve seen much hotter men, / but I really can’t remember when” on “bad idea right?”
Her delivery of these lyrics is very tongue-in-cheek, it makes you laugh a bit the first time you hear it and sing along in the same way once you know it. Her emotions come off extremely well in her voice, and it’s something that really amplifies every song.
Matured Lyrics
“SOUR” was a great portrayal of an innocent type of love turned, well, sour by miscommunication, deep insecurity, and the general fleeting nature of firsts. But “GUTS” also explores the darker side of love and a loss of that innocence: being taken advantage of by people who are older or have more experience, used for your body, lied to, or manipulated. This kind of heartbreak mixed with a feeling of deep regret and violation is much more complicated and nuanced than “SOUR” was.
A good example of this is in the outro of “logical” when she sings:
“I know I could’ve stopped it all / God, why didn’t I stop it all?”
Olivia Rodrigo
This simple lyric is really gut-wrenching because it feels like you’re hearing her regret in real-time. Being angry at yourself because it feels like you are responsible for “letting” yourself get hurt is almost more soul-crushing than being angry at someone else for it.
Besides heartbreak, another common theme present in both “SOUR” and “GUTS” is insecurity. But while “jealously, jealousy” on “SOUR” simply explores the idea of being jealous of other girls who seem to have it all together, “all american bitch” and “pretty isn’t pretty” on “GUTS” take that concept to another level. “all american bitch” is probably the angriest song on the album, even featuring a full-on scream during the bridge.
The entire song has Olivia sarcastically saying things like:
“I’m grateful all the time / I’m sexy and I’m kind / I’m pretty when I cry,”
Olivia Rodrigo
to show the ridiculously high expectations young women have to not only always have positive characteristics, but to be confident and appreciative as well. If you are not “sexy” or “kind” enough, you will be criticized. And even if you are, but are considered to be too confident or too insecure, you will be criticized. We are expected to walk directly in that imaginary line, never becoming too much or not enough of any given thing.
And “pretty isn’t pretty” explores the fact that no matter how much we try to live up to those expectations, we never, ever will because they are just impossible. “Pretty” will never be “pretty enough.” These are incredibly more mature and realized concepts than those explored on “jealously, jealousy.”
Instead of being jealous of other women, Olivia recognizes that even those women feel the pressure to be everything at once, and never feel pretty enough either because that is what women are taught. The first emotion is completely valid and relatable, but the second one is infinitely more maddening and complicated to convey in a short song.
The final concept both albums touch on is growing up. But “GUTS” feels less like the teenage sentiment of being “sick of seventeen” and not being able to wait to grow up, and more like the initial realization once you have grown up a little bit that you miss the sheltered comfort and innocence of childhood. Rodrigo touches on the emotions that arise when you start to be more self-aware: regrets, worries about making the wrong decisions, and guilt. There are plenty of lyrics in the songs about her breakups that refer to regret, but there is also a whole track about it.
The song “making the bed” features the following lyrics:
“And I’m playin’ the victim so well in my head, / But it’s me who’s been makin’ the bed.”
Olivia Rodrigo
In this track, she doesn’t just regret her dating decisions, but almost everything: getting into the music industry, pushing people away, and even being the person she is in general. When you’re growing up, it’s easy to second-guess who it seems like you are becoming.
Every decision you make feels like a reflection of who you are, simply because you haven’t made that many life choices. So when you’re young and you mess up, it feels like it’s in your character to mess everything up. It’s something that isn’t explored in a lot of songs, and this one does it really well.
In the final track on the album, “teenage dream,” she repeats the lyric:
“They all say that it gets better / It gets better the more you grow / …It gets better, but what if I don’t?”
Olivia Rodrigo
Instead of being excited to grow older, she is incredibly worried about it because she’s afraid she still won’t feel okay or live up to her potential. This lyric repetition is amplified by again, her vocal delivery and the pounding drums and piano in the back. It’s really an amazing way to close out the album, and it’s a big improvement from the final track on “SOUR”.
All the lyrics in “GUTS” feel far more nuanced in general, and deal with complicated concepts that are hard to articulate.
What is Olivia Rodrigo’s Future After “Guts?”
If “GUTS” is the thematic next step from “SOUR,” what’s next for Olivia? She could lean even more into the punk sound, making songs similar to Bikini Kill or other Riot grrrl bands that are more firmly in the rock genre and more explicitly explore feminist themes. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if she decides to go in a fully different direction for her next project: such as a slower, more lyrical folk album, or a bouncy, upbeat 90s-inspired pop album.
But because she proved she can maintain her popularity beyond one album, she has cemented herself in the popular culture and her third album will most likely do great. Olivia is very smart in how she builds her brand and markets her music; whatever she creates will be a thematic fit.
“GUTS” was even better than her huge success of a debut, so it can be assumed that her next release will also rise to the occasion.