wed 11/12/2024

Album: Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS | reviews, news & interviews

Album: Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

Album: Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

Like Lavigne before her, Rodrigo has mastered the millennial angst of an era

Olivia Rodrigo: seizing past successes and amping them up to 11

Much like her pop predecessor Avril Lavigne, musical snobs over the age of 25 are likely to be suspicious of Olivia Rodrigo. As the 2003 BBC review of seminal angst classic Let Go (every millennial woman’s mirror to her teens) posited, ”She’s only 17. She’s pretty. She’s sold a zillion albums already. She must be rubbish, right?” The difference between those two decades is staggering.

While Lavigne might’ve been questioned about her right to the pop-punk throne, high-flying women in music have revived the industry over the last few years. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are expected to generate about $4.5 billion in not just the concerts, but all of the spending that's happening around one another during their respective tour schedules. 

Olivia Rodrigo joined those ranks back in 2021 when her widely acclaimed LP, SOUR, made history as the longest-running debut album on the Billboard 200 Top Ten this century, landed a No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2021 list and earned three awards and seven nominations at the 64th Grammy Awards. When you list it like that, it’s quite a tough act to follow. Reunited with SOUR producer David Nigro though, GUTS is the sound of someone seizing those past successes and amping them up to 11. 

Rockin’ opener “All American Bitch” plays with pop culture references from your favourite sleepover movies as Rodrigo soothes: “I am light as a feather / Stiff as a board / I pay attention to things that most people ignore.” Not just tapping into missed moments, recent single “bad idea, right?” celebrates those inevitable revisits to an ex with the knowledge that it could all go wrong but recklessly doing it anyway. (A refreshing antithesis to Dua Lipa’s now somewhat judgemental-sounding “New Rules”.)

Elsewhere on the record, Rodrigo is far more hypocritical of herself. For someone so seemingly happy in the public eye (lip-syncing with her celeb pals as they Reels in changing rooms on Instagram), there’s a lot of cautious reflection and regret (“making the bed”) alongside her introspective insecurities (“ballad of a homeschooled girl”). While angelic and ethereal “Lacy” showcases the musician’s elevated lyrical approach after enrolling in a poetry class at the University of Southern California as she beautifully reflects: “Dazzling and starlit / Bardot incarnate.”

Twenty years old, a zillions of albums under her belt and Olivia Rodrigo’s ascent to superstardom has only just begun…

Olivia Rodrigo’s ascent to superstardom has only just begun

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Explore topics

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters