On September 8th, 2023, 20-year-old American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo released her new album titled GUTS. The album is made up of 12 tracks, including, “bad ideas right?’, “vampire”, “lacy”, and “the grudge”. Out of the 12 songs, “vampire” has been streamed the most, as it was the first GUTS track to be released on June 30th, 2023. GUTS topped the album charts in 14 countries, including the United States, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. 

“My first initial thought when listening to GUTS was that it was going to be very similar to SOUR, and in some of the songs, there are similarities, but it’s still a very unique album,” Senior Ashlyn Edwards said.

While Rodrigo is new to the music industry, this isn’t her first album. On May 21st, 2021, she released SOUR, her first ever album that consists of 11 songs, including her most popular song, “drivers license”. 

Rodrigo grew a lot in the three years between SOUR and GUTS, not just in her sound, but also as a person. In an interview with The New Yorker, she said, “Oh, my gosh, she is worlds different. I’ve changed so much just between the ages of seventeen and twenty. In that time period, you grow. I feel like I grew twenty-five years in three years. So, yeah, she’s vastly different.” Listeners can clearly hear the difference in Rodrigo’s sound. GUTS is more confident and energetic than SOUR. 

“I would say I probably prefer GUTS over SOUR because I can relate to it more,” Edwards told me. 

Olivia Rodrigo loves four-letter words, hence the titles of her two albums. She believes four-letter words are cool, succinct, and hold power. Rodrigo chose the title GUTS because she believes it can mean many different things, such as, bravery and trusting your gut/intuition, as well as spilling your guts. 

GUTS has a variety of guitar and drum sounds from older alternative/pop rock styles. This is used to symbolize Rodrigo’s transition from adolescence to adulthood and its tribulations. The genre of GUTS is considered pop/rock as it is mixed with energetic songs and soft ballads. Rodrigo ‘s favorite genre of music is female rebellion, which a few of her songs in GUTS give off that vibe.

“My favorite GUTS song is either ‘the grudge’ or ‘teenage dream’,” Edwards said. 

Rodrigo is planning to embark on a GUTS World Tour next year. It will open on February 23rd, 2024 and close on August 17th, 2024. The tour will begin in the U.S., then head to Canada and Europe before wrapping it up in the U.S. again. 

With her first two albums now out, Rodrigo is growing in popularity and is no longer just a name known in the Hollywood industry, but also a name known in the music industry.