Olivia Rodrigo is a 23 year old singer/songwriter & actress from Murrieta, California who began acting for The Walt Disney Company in the late 2010s prior to focusing on a musical career & signing to Geffen Records. Her full-length debut Sour solidly explored the perils & discoveries she made when she was 17 & the sophomore effort Guts reflect the process of maturity she experienced toward the end of her adolescence, looking to make a departure with her 3rd album compared to both of it’s predecessors.
The intro “Drop Dead” fuses pop rock, synthpop, new wave, big music & indie pop daydreaming over someone she’s crushing on whereas “stupid song” takes inspiration from Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux singing about wanting this guy more than anything she could write. “honeybee” continues from there assuring she has love for this person even if she can’t quite describe it while the rock-driven “maggots for brains” thematically bases itself around Miranda from Sex & the City.
“u + me = <3” nears the conclusion of you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love singing about being optimistic of a new relationship beginning leading into “my way” gives off some Gwen Stefani vibes furiously calling out a woman for crossing her relationship boundaries. “purple” marks a turning point where things start to unravel just before my favorite single “the cure” experiments with pop rock, singer/songwriter, acoustic rock, post-Britpop, big music & chamber pop coming to terms with her flaws.
Meanwhile on “begged”, we have Olivia giving a more nuanced take of wanting more affection from her boyfriend “what’s wrong with me” featuring Robert Smith finds pair joining forces to help her realizes that this guy she’s dating is the cause of her sadness. “less” makes her last attempts at saving their relationship from collapsing & after “expectations” refuses to settle for someone with a fake job, she spends the final minutes likening her ex to “cigarette smoke” regretting the time she spent with him.
Guts was a huge improvement above Sour & you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love completely embraces Olivia Rodrigo’s full artistic potential by dropping the best music I’ve heard from her. Dan Nigro’s production almost perfects her pop rock sound incorporating some additional elements of singer/songwriter, new wave, alternative rock, indie rock, acoustic rock, post-Britpop, big music, chamber pop, adult contemporary & traditional pop portaging a relationship from beginning to end.
Score: 4.5/5
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