Olivia Rodrigo is back for round 2! GUTS is the highly anticipated follow-up to SOUR, and it seems she's leaning into the rock side of things a lot more this time around, which I am loving. Preceded by two wildly different singles, vampire and bad idea right?, it was looking to be a very different experience from SOUR.
The sophomore release sees a lot of elements from her debut make a second appearance, from the blend of strong and straight up confessional lyricism to the varying degrees of humourous and emotional expressiveness in her vocal work, but most noticeably, the rock influence is back and more than twofold. It might even be apt to call this a rock record, all things considered.
The subtle evolution of her sound and songwriting is very commendable, transitioning from an intentionally teenage topics on SOUR to one with a touch more maturity on GUTS. On the rock cuts, it's great to see bits of grunge, emo and pop punk seep through into the soundscapes, especially with the tones and production. She's gotten much better at this intersecting her modern pop sensibilities with alternative rock palettes, while remaining as unique and as accessible as she was before.
Despite continuing to avoid the pitfalls of Tiktok blandness, her music surprisingly caters to the Gen Z at an even greater degree than before. Very modern youth aesthetics shine on cuts like bad idea right? and get him back!, with the impressively dynamic vocal work carrying the hyper-modern language and tonality across the airwaves. The duality of her ballads and rockers is amazing to see honestly, especially when the two sides amalgamate on tracks like vampire and teenage dream. Hearing these songs start off with a simple piano backing and end with an uproaring rock opera-esque climax is tasteful, to say the least.
GUTS is an amazing follow-up to SOUR, one that I enjoy much, much more, and not just for it's more prominent rock influences (although I do enjoy that a lot). It feels like her songwriting has stepped up, her sentiments have become more poignant and the overall listening experience has improved substantially. Definitely a highlight of pop music in 2023.
Rating: 8/10