Olivia Rodrigo released her second studio album ‘Guts’ this September, a melodramatic, pop-rock collection of soft ballads and rock singles, across all music platforms. In its first week, ‘Guts’ debuted as the number one album on the top 100 Billboard charts, the fourth highest charting album in 2023.
“I love ‘Guts’ because I feel like it’s catchy and captures the teenage experience more than a lot of music,” senior Sarah Rasic said. “It’s like ‘Sour’’s older sister, it’s more refined and feels like it’s music playing in the background of your life rather than being defined by the emotional moments.”
‘Guts’ dropped on September 8th, 2023, two years following the release of her debut album ‘Sour.’ In the weeks preceding ‘Guts’, she released singles ‘Vampire’ and ‘Bad Idea Right’ to build anticipation for the album.
“‘Guts’ reminds me of a poppy style with a punk flare that characterized a lot of music in the early 2000’s,” History teacher Lauren O’Donnell said. “Her music is really nostalgic, because it reminds me of the catchy, over the top rock music I listened to in middle school and high school,”
Rodrigo’s career in the spotlight started with Disney Channel, starring in the comedy show “Bizaardvark.’ Yet her most recognizable role is ‘Nini’ in Disney Plus’s High School Musical television remake High School Musical: Musical the Series.
“I’ve been following Olivia since Bizaardvark and it’s really nice to see her as an artist,” sophomore Franchesqa Landicho said. “‘Guts’ is super different from her first album Sour, but I love it.”
In 2021, Rodrigo’s musical career skyrocketed with the commercial success of her first single ‘Driver’s License.” Within the first months of its release, the song climbed to number one on the Billboard Charts and gained over a billion streams on Spotify.
“My first memory of listening to Olivia Rodrigo was during the pandemic when her song ‘drivers license’ blew up on Tiktok,” O’Donnell said. “I still listen to her music, especially her more reflective songs, because the lyrics paint pictures and you can see the scene she’s singing about.”
‘Guts’ is a dynamic, double sided album. While her hard-rock songs like get him back! and bad idea right? stealing inspiration from her days on Disney Channel, her heart-break ballads like Insert songs are reminiscent of her first album Sour.
“‘Sour’ was about how she lost this guy but ‘Guts’ was more about trying to get him back,” sophomore Sterling Loretto said. “Some of the songs I really loved like Vampire, but she definitely done more work on it,”
‘Guts’ garnered huge commercial success, gaining over 60 million Spotify streams on the day of its release. The album also debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts for eight consecutive weeks in the United States, Australia, German, Sweden and the UK, naming her the first female artist in over nine years to top the charts twice.
“In ‘Guts’, Olivia is really evolving and she’s not stuck on the same guy anymore,” sophomore Julia McKinnon said. “It’s definitely more energetic, like the type of music to sing along to at a concert,”
To promote the album, Rodrigo will be going on a 75 day international tour beginning in February 2024. She will be performing at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Aug. 2, 2024.
“I tried to get tickets for her concert in San Francisco, but I was put on the waiting list,” Rasic said. “Overall, I thought it was an amazing album because you can scream the lyrics in your car and it feels like you’re listening to music from a 2000’s movie soundtrack.”
