If there’s one thing I’ve learned from listening to hundreds and hundreds of albums, it’s that sophomore albums are really hard to pull off. Artists have to walk a thin line between giving fans more of what they liked about their first offering while not covering so much of the same ground to be labeled a one-trick pony. Not only must they cement the signature sounds that make their artistry unique, but they must also give listeners something fresh and exciting. For breakout pop artist Olivia Rodrigo, a Disney Channel star turned pop sensation whose meteoric rise was punctuated by her debut album “SOUR,” this tension between evolution and consistency was made even trickier before she sat down to write one song for her sophomore album “GUTS.”
When Olivia Rodrigo’s song “driver’s license” blew up out of nowhere on TikTok in 2021, it felt for the first time like we had truly achieved a collective online response. Perhaps it was a reflection of our shared cabin fever during the pandemic lockdowns but it felt like the first time the entire internet couldn’t take their eyes and ears off a singular song. This one wasn’t just for the alt kids or the cool girls—it was for me too. It didn’t hurt that lockdowns had allowed people to scrutinize their relationships, leading to plenty of breakups and heartbreaks. Without realizing it, we had all been longing for permission to scream about something and Rodrigo had just fired the starting gun.
Many artists aren’t ready for their moment, but Rodrigo was. When I say they aren’t ready, I mean that their second, third and 10th songs aren’t nearly as good as what blew up. But Olivia, only 17 then, made sure not to miss her window and fully delivered. While she didn’t anticipate the global reach of “driver’s license,” it didn’t take her long to prepare her debut album: “SOUR.”
Not only was she aware of the chord that she struck with the world but she was able to use her songwriting prowess (which was impressive for an artist so young) to deliver it again and again, with songs on her album like “Good 4 u” and “deja vu.” Even so, Rodrigo’s greatest strength—her age—which allowed her to explore more naive emotions, would also serve as an albatross around her neck as she fought for respect in the music industry.
Additionally, the thrill of a debut album doesn’t last forever and like every breakout artist, Rodrigo was faced with the issue of a follow-up. That follow-up came in the form of her sophomore album, “GUTS,” which was released on September 8, 2023. This album builds on the sonics of “SOUR” while allowing Rodrigo to look inward.
The album starts with “all-american b––,” where Rodrigo rips off the band-aid to expose her repressed anger and confusion with navigating a world that insists on boxing her in. In an exhaustive list, the verses outline what Rodrigo feels expected to be as a modern woman. This immediately parallels “SOUR,” whose opening track, “brutal,” uses a similar structure in its verses to explore the struggles of adolescence.
The gentle verses in “all-american b––” sit against a powerful outburst in the chorus, with her signature vocal-through-a-guitar-amp, pop-punk production.
“I know my age and I act like it,” Rodrigo sings.
Rodrigo is aware of the pressure on her as an artist to squeeze the emotions of 18, 19, and 20 for all it’s worth because before too long, the world expects you to have learned all your lessons. In the song’s live rehearsal video on YouTube, Rodrigo is shown devolving into screaming following the chorus, only to quickly regain her composure, singing, “I’m grateful all the –– time.” The song and this performance make it clear that she can’t fully give herself permission to let go without snapping back to a hypnotic sense of responsibility.
Rodrigo isn’t saying she’s all grown up, though. On the second track, “bad idea, right?” she leans heavily back into the lyrical and sonic palette of “SOUR.”
“Seeing you tonight, it’s a bad idea, right? –– it, it’s fine,” she sings.
This is Rodrigo knowing her age and acting like it. She keeps the “SOUR” party going in several places on the album, wanting revenge on “get him back!” and laments a manipulative ex on “logical.” These lyrically hark back to songs like “traitor” and “favorite crime.” She struggles like anyone else to pick up the pieces when things fall apart and it allows listeners to feel like she’s telling their story. Rodrigo knows what worked.
“GUTS” can’t be discussed without mentioning its lead single, “vampire,” in which Rodrigo threads the needle of recapturing the “drivers license” lightning in a bottle while showing listeners that she is growing up. About a narcissistic and manipulative ex who used her for her fame, the music feels both familiar and new, with stylistic references to musical theater (Rodrigo got her start on Disney+’s “Highschool Musical: The Musical: The Series”). Rodrigo has departed from the wistful nostalgia of a previous relationship and moved on to callous rage about another. The music video for “vampire” was equally intense. Initially showing Rodrigo performing the song in a forest, it reveals through a fallen lighting truss hitting her in the head that she is performing the song at an award show. The video tonally cements the dark confusion that the song and the album convey, as Rodrigo is forced to grow up and deal with doing so in real time in front of the world.
Rodrigo’s struggle with being marked by her age is ever-present on this album. In the song “making the bed,” she laments that she has to pretend that she’s older than she is, and on “logical,” she is viewed as too young. This comes to a head on the album’s final piano-ballad track, “teenage dream.” The title reflects a line from “brutal,”: “Where’s my –– teenage dream?”
She opens this final track by asking, “When am I gonna stop being wise beyond my years and just start being wise… when am I gonna stop being great for my age and just start being good?”
The quiet tone of her voice echoes like a voice in her head. The struggle of every child and teenage star is that they must always contend with the shadow of their former selves and Rodrigo feels no differently: “I fear that they already got all the best parts of me.” She acknowledges this struggle but yearns to be respected as she grows into adulthood.
When “SOUR” came out in 2021, I read a review of it titled: “Olivia Rodrigo is a Lowercase Girl with Caps Lock Feelings.” This effectively captures the balance of Rodrigo’s relatability and authenticity by drawing parallels to an informal and approachable writing style typical of her generation (which often employs lowercase letters in posts and texts) and the emotional intensity of her music. I think this description is both true and a large part of why Rodrigo became so popular so quickly. However, it’s also linked to the reason that a sophomore album is infinitely more difficult to pull off.
Rodrigo’s best friend with “SOUR” was the element of surprise. 2020 backdropped the emotional explosion of “driver’s license,” and we grabbed onto any catharsis we could gain from the song. Two years on, many of us have largely adjusted to our post-pandemic lives. This means that Rodrigo, a sophomore album, isn’t walking a tightrope but rather balancing on a double-edged sword.
On “GUTS,” Rodrigo’s production is half clean and polished like her previous release, and the other half tries to sound edgy and emotional. Vocally, Rodrigo shines and fits well on most of its tracks but it can’t be ignored that she is pulling her music in two directions: the lowercase girl and the caps-locked feelings. But her attention to looking inward and commenting on the transition to adulthood and fame in the social age helps her to use “GUTS” to grow with her audience.
It’s clear from listening to the album that Olivia Rodrigo is growing up and using her growing pains to gain respect through wise lyricism and ultimately, an ability to deliver a second time around. While the element of surprise certainly helped Olivia Rodrigo, it’s clear that now, she doesn’t need it.
“GUTS” can be listened to on Spotify and Apple Music.