Olivia Rodrigo recently released more songs from her “GUTS” album on March 22 and put them into a new album called “GUTS (spilled).”
“GUTS” followed Rodrigo’s first album, “Sour.” Her first album won a Grammy award in 2022 for Best Pop Vocal Album. “Sour” was such a success that many thought her next album would fall short, but Rodrigo proved us wrong.
Rodrigo has been in the entertainment industry for years now, beginning her journey as Grace Thomas in the American Girl Doll movie “An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success” (2015). Following that, she appeared in Disney Channel’s “Bizaardvark” series. Afterwards, she starred in the Disney Plus series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Rodrigo gained popularity after her song “All I Want” appeared in the show. Then, in January of 2021, her hit song “drivers license” gained over 1.1 billion streams worldwide. This gave listeners an opportunity to see how talented Rodrigo was when it came to her songwriting abilities.
After seeing the success of her album “GUTS,” Rodrigo released “GUTS (spilled).” This version added five additional songs to her “GUTS” album. The new songs that were released are: “Stranger,” “So American,” “Scared Of My Guitar,” “Girl I’ve Always Been” and “Obsessed.” I have listened to all of these songs as well as the original album, which I am a huge fan of. However, I do have some favorites on both the original album as well as the new version. On the original “GUTS” album, all of the songs are brilliantly written. My personal favorites include “pretty isn’t pretty,” “making the bed,” “vampire” and “teenage dream.”
“I could change up my body, and change up my face,” Rodrigo said in “pretty isn’t pretty.” “I could try every lipstick in every shade. But I’d always feel the same. ‘Cause pretty isn’t pretty enough.”
The song “pretty isn’t pretty” describes the hardships of today’s beauty standards. Rodrigo describes the struggles she puts on herself to try to attain society’s liking. In her song, she expresses that no matter what she does to try to “fix” her appearance, she will never be pretty enough for society or herself.
“I’m so tired of being the girl that I am,” Rodrigo said in “making the bed.” “Every good thing has turned into something I dread. I’ve been playing the victim so well in my head, but it’s me who’s been making the bed.”
In the song “making the bed,” Rodrigo highlights how she feels: that she self sabotages herself in situations. When she said, “It’s me who’s been making the bed,” she is really saying that it’s her that has been creating these negative situations that she finds herself in.
Rodrigo released a new song in “GUTS (spilled)” called “so american.” This song highlights her new relationship with Louis Partridge. As Patridge is British, Rodrigo talks about the comments he makes that she is “so american.”
“When he laughs at all my jokes, and he says I’m so american,” Rodrigo said in “so american.” “Oh god, it’s just not fair of him to make me feel this much.”
In this song, we get an inside look into Rodrigo’s new relationship. She shows the more lighthearted side of her life. We get to see how strong her feelings are towards Partridge. I personally love this song. I feel like it shows a different side to Rodrigo. In a lot of her songs, we see a more serious, emotional side to her. For example, in her song “vampire,” we see her being rebellious and heartbroken. She describes someone using her for her fame and then leaving once they gain popularity. It is refreshing to see Rodrigo show a less stern side of herself.
Another song in “GUTS (spilled)” that caught my attention was “scared of my guitar.” In this song, Rodrigo describes how her music is her purest form of expression.
“But I’m so scared of my guitar, ‘cause it cuts right through to the heart,” Rodrigo said in “scared of my guitar.” “Yeah it knows me too well, so I got no excuse. I can’t lie to it the same way I lie to you.”
None of her previous songs have expressed how music can negatively impact her life. For instance, in her song “teenage dream,” she talks about how she feels she has already reached her peak in not only her career but her life as well.
“I’ll blow out the candles, happy birthday to me,” Rodrigo said in “teenage dream.” “Got your whole life ahead of you and you’re only 19. But I fear that they already got all the best parts of me.”
My interpretation of this song is that Rodrigo worries that she has nowhere to go. After winning a Grammy for her first album, she worries that she has nothing left to give her audience. She fears that she won’t be able to top any of the songs she has already made. Although “teenage dream” is probably my favorite song on the entire “GUTS” album, it doesn’t really talk about how her music makes her feel.
In “scared of my guitar,” Rodrigo expresses how her guitar is the only thing that reveals the truth about her emotions. She can’t lie to her guitar because her music is her most genuine form of writing. We see how important making music is to her in this song.
There is no doubt that Rodrigo is extremely talented, not only as a performer but as a songwriter as well. This album further proved that. Her additional songs were an exciting surprise to all of her fans, and I look forward to seeing what she creates next.