Warner Chappell Music
On Sept. 8, pop phenomenon Olivia Rodrigo released twelve songs in her sophomore album “GUTS.” The young singer-songwriter gets vulnerable in her album as she crafts an angsty and heartfelt tracklist that tackles the struggles of growing up as a young woman in today’s society, reminiscent of an early 2000s coming-of-age movie.
Although it has been two years since she released her first album, “SOUR,” she keeps the iconic energetic, pop-punk production of her songs that topped the charts in 2021. In her first track, “all-american bitch,” she juxtaposes angelic vocals and soft acoustic guitar in her verses with a more percussion-driven and distorted guitar chorus and bridge to build aggression and tension in the song. As she sings with grace in the verses, representative of the grace women are expected to always have, she breaks the softness with crescendoing screams and electric guitar shreds in the chorus and bridge to demonstrate her own growing frustration with the expectations society has burdened young women with.
[S]he juxtaposes angelic vocals and soft acoustic guitar in her verses with a more percussion-driven and distorted guitar chorus and bridge to build aggression and tension in the song
Like her track “jealousy, jealousy” on her debut album, Rodrigo continues to express her frustration at the unattainable beauty standards the media pushes onto youth in her 2000s pop-based song “pretty isn’t pretty” but this time with more maturity. In contrast to “jealousy, jealousy,” Rodrigo focuses on her newfound understanding of how subjective and unattainable being considered “beautiful” is, instead of her frustration toward other women she perceives to be successful and beautiful, reflective of her growth over time. Though the lyrics depict constant frustration, the production of the song showcases the ironically happy tone of the album, offering softer vocals and a more upbeat melody in contrast to the rigid aggression of “jealousy, jealousy,” depicting how she is forced to belittle her insecurities about her appearance.
Finally, Rodrigo concludes the album with “teenage dream,” a slow piano ballad about her transition out of teenhood, a vital part of her identity as both an artist and person. The song is a confession to the listener in which she reveals her anxiety about growing up and facing new scrutiny, rather than being excused for wild actions due to her youth. The chorus focuses on how she was marketed as a teenage pop princess since her rise to fame and as she loses that title with age, she views the age of nineteen to be the expiration date for her success. The majority of the song is recorded with just a piano and her voice, sincerely conveying her own feelings of loneliness at this transitional age. In the bridge, she repeats the lines “They all say that it gets better/ It gets better/ But what if I don’t” until the song fades out, demonstrating her spiraling into the isolating fear for her future, leaving the listener with the same sadness she feels.
Overall, “GUTS” earns a four out of five stars because although Rodrigo’s production was not experimental in any way, her growth and newfound maturity still shines through as she masters her own distinct sound.
