Olivia Rodrigo - "Guts"

A Disney kid all grown up

Oct 05, 2023

Olivia Rodrigo’s claim to fame starts with The Disney Channel, like many other celebrities and pop stars. Her roles on “Bizaardvarks” and “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” seem to be the launching points of her career. And now she’s pursuing pop music.

Guts is Rodrigo’s second full-length outing — which really just means it’s the first album released since her debut album, Sour, resulted in a series of dramatic allegations of plagiarism — from her heroes, Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams, no less. And, to really understand what’s going on on Guts, we have to address the events that followed the release of Sour. More on that in a moment.

First, Guts is a diverse and jam-filled 40-minute ride. It’s mostly Pop, but has some definite Rock and Punk leanings throughout. The songs are filled with superb lyricism and catchy hooks which make the album incredibly strong just on the surface level.

There is so much going on deeper in the album, though, and I’ve been having a time trying to parse through the many fan theories and various readings of multiple songs. Some of them have very little ground to stand on, but some seem very solid. Rodrigo has said of Guts:

“For me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life,” Rodrigo said in a press release about her new album. “I feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20—it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that’s all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully, the album reflects that.”1

Much of the drama that fuels these ‘growing pains’ stems from the aforementioned plagiarism allegations. While Sour released with songwriting credits already granted to Swift (and Jack Antonoff) on “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back”, Rodrigo spoke publicly about how Swift’s “Cruel Summer” was direct inspiration for the bridge on “Deja Vu”.

By July, Swift is granted a retroactive songwriting credit on “Deja Vu”; by September, after fans pointed out similarities between Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” and Paramore’s “Misery Business”, that song is also retroactively corrected with additional songwriting credits. These credits mean that up to half of any revenue the songs make is immediately redirected to these cowriters.2

And both “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 U” were released as singles, meaning that they were responsible for bringing in a sizable portion of whatever sales and plays Sour netted, as a whole. It’s a hit to Rodrigo’s wallet that has likely taken millions from her earnings, and to have her heroes be the ones who hit her with these suits likely feels like betrayal. Add to that the harsh difference in how Swift and Rodrigo have interacted before and after, and fans have had no choice but to speculate that they’re feuding. Glamour has a detailed write-up with a timeline.

To her credit, Rodrigo has denied any feuds, and also refuses to admit who any of her songs are about:

“I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t.”

Which is very Swiftian. And, given that Rodrigo has repeatedly listed Swift as one of her top inspirations, it’s not surprising that she would adopt that mentality. Nor is it surprising just how strong her lyricism is.

This is already a lengthy write-up, so I’ll refrain from copying in excerpts of lyrics, but this album is full of solid lines. While Sour ended up feeling appropriately named for the wrong reason, Guts feels like a definite course correction. There is a lot of newfound maturity here,3 and it often comes across in this grudging fashion that feels incredibly familiar. It’s that transition that young adults go through — from celebrating the newfound freedoms of adulthood to realizing everything that their new reality entails and having the veil pulled back on much of the unpleasantness that hadn’t noticed in their youth. And, again, it’s all done with a definite Swiftian flair.

The album launches with “All-American Bitch” and “Bad Idea Right?”, which lean hard into Pop Punk, and the latter is easily one of the best jams on the album. This is immediately followed by “Vampire”, which is the album’s lead single. And, allow me to underscore this, “Vampire” fires on all cylinders, starting slow and steadily building into an incredibly catchy bop by the end of its three-and-a-half minute runtime.

“Vampire” faced immediate speculation when it released, with many saying it had to be about Swift, but that theory doesn’t hold water. The lyrics are far too personal and contain lines which can’t possibly reflect on Taylor.

That said, “The Grudge” is clearly about Taylor Swift. It’s a much softer, heartfelt track than most of the rest of the album. Similarly, “Lacy” is believed to be about Gracie Abrams, who is (reportedly) both a friend and rival of Rodrigo’s. Some have suggested that the song is about Sabrina Carpenter, but the fact that the title rhymes with “Gracie”, plus its whisperpop style, supports the Abrams theory. Granted, given some of the evidence supporting Carpenter as the subject, it’s possible that “Lacy” is an amalgam.

The album’s throughline really ties into using its title as a lens. On each song, Rodrigo is doing something hard. On some, she is spilling her guts, saying hard things to people in her life — and sometimes to herself. On others she is wrestling with these harsh new realities of adult life and stardom.

Each song is unique; some are serious, some are fun, but all of them are good. Rodrigo has harnessed the pain and angst of this period of her life to great success.

If you’re looking for a good pop album, this is one of the best of the year.

Rating: Blue

Olivia Rodrigo - "Guts"

A Disney kid all grown up

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