Olivia Rodrigo “GUTS” Full Album Review – Every Single Track

Artist: Olivia Rodrigo
Album: GUTS
Tracks: 12
Producer: Dan Nigro
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock, Indie Rock, Pop Punk, New Wave, Indie Folk
Label: Geffen
Released: September 8, 2023
Tracks Reviewed:
– all-american bitch
– bad idea right?
– vampire
– lacy
– ballad of a homeschooled girl
– making the bed
– logical
– get him back!
– love is embarrassing
– the grudge
– pretty isn’t pretty
– teenage dream

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Olivio Rodrigo already established herself as a popstar with her debut album SOUR in 2021 (which earned her three Grammys) so the anticipation for her sophomore album was at an all-time high.

When looking back at SOUR as a successful debut of heartbreak and deep emotion, GUTS laughs at the previous hold love had on her and how much Rodrigo has grown as both a person and an artist.

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It also speculates the pressures and confusion that come from growing up.

Track #1 – all-american bitch

The introduction to Rodrigo’s highly anticipated second album begins light-heartedly and is reminiscent of Taylor Swift in her early country days.

Yet as soon as we reach the rock-heavy chorus there is more of a ring to early 2000s Avril Lavigne, a pop-punk pioneer whose song ‘Complicated’ she covered on her 2021 The Sour Tour.

Rodrigo seems to take this as a theme for this album. As she stated in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe “My favourite songs are high and low, and reel you in and spit you back out,” which perfectly describes this song.

Track #2 – bad idea right?

Continuing the pop-punk homage, bad idea right?

Shows off Rodrigos’ more conversational-like verses and rock instrumental.

The theme of Rodrigo being a young adult and making mistakes is present throughout the song and continues throughout the album.

The call-back to past relationships and new-girls is more reminiscent of the themes of her first album, SOUR.

Track #3 – vampire

In sharing the themes of her previous #1 debut album, vampire shares the same buildup and anticipation as her hit drivers licence which spent 9 weeks at #1.

Drawing on the more gothic theme of GUTS, vampire shares the experience of being drained from a relationship and the exhaustion it can bring.

Track #4 – lacy

No longer reminiscing on a previous relationship, lacy seems to describe the new lover of an ex, someone you can’t help but compare yourself to.

Rodrigo goes on to say how perfect this Lacy is, ‘like [she’s] made of angel dust’ and is held to the highest of standards.

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There’s no doubt that one of Rodrigo’s selling factors is her ability to create such relatable and relevant music.

Track #5 – ballad of a homeschooled girl

Retreating back to the pop-punk influence, the ballad of a homeschooled girl is another reminder of Rodrigo’s youth and feelings of anxiety or awkwardness.

The verses sum up ‘social suicide’ as she always seems to make problems whenever she leaves the house, a feeling many people can relate to for not fitting in.

The playful song even finishes with ‘can’t think of a third line’, a light-hearted grasp on the previously acclaimed awkwardness.

Track #6 – making the bed

The perfect song for a late-night drive as Rodrigo tells us how she pushes away the people who know her best, and that she is the one causing her own problems.

An effect we can all relate to, ‘playing the victim’ and isolating oneself for various reasons.

Rodrigo expresses this in such a way that makes it seem okay to have these doubts, even if it is painful and overall upsetting.

This song is a perfect example of Rodrigo reaching out to all audiences, and experiences anyone can relate to.

Track #7 – logical

This metaphorical song describes what it’s like to be gas-lit and manipulated within a relationship.

To believe in someone completely yet eventually realising the blindness love can bring. The chorus shows doubt that the recipient can change, that the relationship can change, but ultimately it won’t.

The slow tempo ending where Rodrigo accepts that she is ‘half responsible’ presents a feeling of shame stemming from allowing herself to be manipulated, introducing a new kind of pain

Track #8 – get him back!

The conflicting feelings of wanting someone back because of how you remember them, and the ideals or standards you thought they were compared to how they actually treated you.

Although originally the song makes you think she wants to be back in the relationship, Rodrigo’s declaration that she wants ‘sweet revenge’ and to ‘break his heart’ goes to show the meaning of the song changes completely.

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She wants to get back at him for what he’s done, no longer caught up with what once was, a wonderful roundup of the meaning of the album as a whole.

Track #9 – love is embarrassing

This song is another example of Rodrigo’s storytelling lyricism, the way she tells the tale and we as listeners can follow along vividly.

After being let down multiple times, the song’s continuous questions lead to a self-reflection of the prior embarrassment of how we may act in a previous relationship.

Track #10 – the grudge

Betrayal, lies and hurt. The feeling when one person moves on from a relationship almost instantly while the other is still hurting is a feeling many can pity with.

The all-consuming sadness and anger that follows a breakup is perfectly captured in The grudge, the conflicting feelings of not wanting to care but not being able to let it go.

‘I know you don’t care,’ is a heartfelt realisation that eventually everyone must come to when holding onto a past heartbreak.

The songs growth in speed and power after each growing note recalls back to her own hit ‘drivers licence.’

Track #11 – pretty isn’t pretty

‘There’s always something missing’ is the epitome of societal expectations. No matter how much change you make to yourself there will always be more things to change, and now ‘pretty isn’t pretty enough anymore.’

Rodrigo sums up how difficult it is seeing the expectations of what women and men should beheld to on TV, online, in magazines and almost everywhere.

Track #12 – teenage dream

Unlike Katy Perry’s pop anthem of the same name, this solemn tune shares how as a teenager and nearly an adult you have to eventually grow up.

The song shares how Rodrigo hit such high success as a teenager that she may not be able to live up to the standard she once was.

The song encapsulates the anxiety of growing up and not being able to be what you thought. A similar style to Billie Eilish’s ‘happier than ever’, a building song with an ultimate downfall of strong vocals and a forceful instrumental.

The final song of Rodrigos album leaves audiences thinking of her successful past and the expectation for her to live up to the impossibly high standards she already achieved with her debut album.

In the interview with Zane Lowe, Rodrigo shares how she wrote for this album “with the tour in mind.” Her first tour, The Sour Tour, comprised of 49 shows from North America and Europe and sold out within minutes.

Olivia Rodrigo’s album “GUTS” has been released worldwide as of Sept. 8, 2023.