Finally, after two years Olivia Rodrigo is back again!
On September 6, 2023, Olivia released her second album Guts to all streaming platforms. Olivia was nervous to release her new album due to the success of her first album Sour. In an interview on Apple Music Rodrigo expressed, she was worried she wouldn’t be able to compete with her three Grammy award-winning album Sour not wanting to disappoint her fans however it is the number one album on Apple Music.
The album is 39 minutes long with a total of 12 songs. The most popular singles are called “All-American *****”, “Bad Idea Right?”,”and “Vampire”. Olivia teased “Vampire” in late June this year, and two months later released the second song “Bad Idea Right?”.
Many people think “Get Him Back!” is the number one single in the album.
This song, like most of the album, is definitely way different from her first album and was a huge shocker to many. “Get Him Back!” is about plotting revenge on her ex while also still wanting him back, hence the song’s name. If you pay close attention to the main lyrics of the song, she will sing cute romantic lines like “I wanna meet his mom” or “I wanna kiss his face”, just to be followed by “Just to tell her, her son sucks” or “With an uppercut.” The track is really catchy and caught the fans’ attention for being so different and not just singing about wanting him back.
The second most popular song on the album is “All-American *****”, an upbeat song, similar to “Get Him Back!”.
I feel as if her more upbeat songs are so popular because they are so new, compared to her usual selection. The song starts as a soft song with a slow beat, but after some time it transitions into more of a rock song, switching from soft singing to yelling. For example, Olivia starts with mellow lyrics such as, “I am light as a feather and as stiff as a board” then quickly switches to yelling as she says “I forgive and forget.”
The main point of this track is to express the high expectations women and girls are being held to. Olivia says “I don’t get angry when I’m pissed. I’m the eternal optimist,” allowing the song to have a much deeper meaning than “someone just yelling in a microphone”, as many were saying on TikTok.
The third song on the track “Vampire” is a really important song on the album because it was teased last June and also released first.
Olivia mentioned in past interviews this song is so important to her because it reflects her journey of her past, and is her taking responsibility for the bad decisions she knew, wouldn’t end very well.
The song starts with Olivia not knowing what her ex’s intentions with her are, then transitions into her feeling taken advantage of for her fame. She uses the lyrics “Bloodsucker, Dreamcatcher” to best describe that. As the song progresses she goes into more detail about how her ex took advantage of her, showing how Olivia grew from her past relationship.
The album ends on a sad note with “Teenage Dream”. This is very like her first album “Sour” the main point being how her life is moving too fast at only 19 and how she wants to live out her teenage dream she hasn’t yet due to her fame.
Olivia has now released two hit albums in the span of two years, An impressive accomplishment for only being a 20-year-old artist. Olivia truly wrote the album with beauty, allowing the fans to have a closer look at who she is, causing each song to hit many people’s hearts, in many different ways.