So far this year, I have listened to exactly 121 full albums. If you can’t tell from that opening sentence, I have a tiny bit of an obsession for music. I’ve always been a big pop girly, so you can probably imagine my excitement when Olivia Rodrigo announced her sophomore album, GUTS, was coming out in September and it did NOT disappoint. I don’t think it’s a stretch when I say that Olivia is entering her Melodrama era (only one of the best, if not the best album of all time, talk to the hand). The album has only been out for less than a month and it has already cracked my top five albums of all time.
GUTS expands on Olivia’s experience as a teenage girl in America transitioning into adulthood. It is undeniably good and proves that our generation has found our new princess of pop. From breakups to expectations to jealousy, Olivia outlines the chaos, pressures and confusion of a nineteen-year-old girl conveniently in a 40-minute listening experience. Anyway, without further ado, here is my personal ranking of it.
12. logical
Believe me when I say I tried to put this song higher on the list. I love this song, it has some really hard-hitting and pretty songwriting (especially in the chorus), but the way the verses lead into the chorus really pulls me out of the immersion of it all.
Best lyric: “I fell for you like water falls from the February sky, but now the current’s stronger, no, I couldn’t get out if I tried.”
11. making the bed
making the bed is sad but the phrase “fair-weather” is kinda funny. A great song overall but that phrase does take me out of it a bit.
Best lyric: “I got the things I wanted, it’s just not what I imagined.”
10. the grudge
This song is ALLEGEDLY about her relationship between her and Taylor Swift. I don’t know if I believe that but if this rumour is true, I am SO intrigued about what really happened between them.
Best lyric: “I know in my heart, hurt people hurt people and we both drew blood but, man, those cuts were never equal.”
9. get him back!
This song requires Olivia Rodrigo lore, because once you learn that her dad is a therapist, it makes the best lyric from this song even more iconic.
Best lyric: “And when I told him how he hurt me, he’d tell me I was trippin’ but I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I could fix him.”
8. bad idea right?
I think Olivia has a knack for writing really witty one-liners and it took me days to decide on the best lyric for this song; I think I found it (indecision really is going to be the death of me one day).
Best lyric: “I just tripped and fell into his bed.”
7. lacy
lacy is such a pretty song that it almost makes you forget it’s about Olivia’s jealousy over a peer. A noticeably different sounding song compared to the rest of the album, with Olivia adopting a softer sound. I like to think that she was channeling her inner poet-sitting-in-a-cottage energy and this was what came of it.
Best lyric: “Dazzling starlet, Bardot reincarnate. Well, aren’t you the greatest thing to ever exist?”
6. teenage dream
This song is very different from the teenage dream that you know of. This song seems to be more about whether she has fulfilled the teenage dream that everyone had of her instead of her own dreams, and this is something almost everyone (especially myself) can relate to.
Best lyric: “I’ll blow out the candles, happy birthday to me. Got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only nineteen. But I fear that they already got all the best parts of me and I’m sorry that I couldn’t always be your teenage dream”
5. vampire
Her introduction into this new era couldn’t have been more of a statement. With a stronger voice and experience with the pen under her belt, Olivia puts out one of the best singles of the year. I’m not going to lie, when I first saw the title, I thought of Edward from Twilight; I don’t know what that says about me but anyway, this song is full of emotion regarding Olivia’s former lover and definitely a step up from her debut single “drivers license” in terms of production and lyrics; firmly setting the tone for the new album.
Best lyric: “I’ve made some real big mistakes, but you make the worse one look fine.”
4. pretty isn’t pretty
Being surrounded by expectations can be extremely pressuring; always thinking that you’re not doing the right thing or not enough for other people and this mentality can permeates into your entire life. The idea that women are on a time limit in terms of their worth due to their “pretty-ness” is something that the media has put out for so long that it’s not surprising when so many girls think they’re not enough and this song perfectly delivers that message.
Best lyric: “And I try to ignore it, but it’s everything I see. It’s on the posters on the wall, it’s in the shitty magazines. It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed. It’s all around, it’s all the time and I don’t know why I even try.”
3. love is embarrassing
Having feelings is embarrassing!!! Olivia embraces the sound of 80s pop as she sings about the feelings she developed for some “second string loser”. This song is a BANGER! I have to say sometimes your brain is just going a bit funky and stuff like this just happens.
Best lyric: “Just watch as I crucify myself for some weird second string loser who’s not worth mentioning.”
2. all-american bitch
Being a woman is to be a walking contradiction. When you’re angry, you can’t say anything, but you are the problem whether you say something or not, and this is only one example of many. Nothing is ever good enough for people so I guess the only solution is to embrace it. Be the bitch that everyone sees you to be!
Best lyric: “I don’t get angry when I’m pissed, I’m the eternal optimist. I scream inside to deal with it.”
1. ballad of a homeschooled girl
I have loved this song since my first listen to it. Maybe it’s the 90s pop punk vibes or it’s the crazy unhinged lyrics; some of the best ones have to be “every guy I like is gay” and “thought your mom was your wife”. Constantly thinking that you’re messing up and everything you touch turns into dust is definitely something I can relate to. With the music also reflecting the lyrics, I can say with complete certainty that this song is the thesis of the album, therefore making it the best song of the album in my humble opinion.
Best lyric: “I’m on the outside of the greatest inside joke.”
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Anyway, if you haven’t listened to the album and need to let out some of that good-old pent up teenage angst and then immediately cry, all in less than 40 minutes, GUTS is the album for you! (how convenient :D) I’ll just be over in my room listening to it and putting myself voluntarily through an emotional rollercoaster again and again and again and again and again…
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