On highlight “get him back!,” over a track that’s half “So Whatcha Want” and half “Steal My Sunshine,” Rodrigo vacillates between competing urges for reconciliation and revenge, toggling between two meanings of the phrase as she nimbly rides the beat. She raps, and it is not even close to a disaster. The album was bogged down by too many weepy laments, but - buoyed by the combination of Rodrigo’s instincts and producer Dan Nigro’s experience - it felt like an instant classic despite its flaws.
She had the poise and polish you’d expect from a child actor, but Rodrigo diverged from the path of past Disney Channel stars in a way that won her the mutual admiration of heroes like Jack White, Annie Clark, and Kathleen Hanna. Whether channeling Paramore on “good 4 u,” borrowing a Radiohead riff on “deja vu,” or reflecting back Phoebe Bridgers and Lorde on her record-breaking debut single “drivers license,” she came off as a young talent with good taste and her own point of view. The album was exciting for rock fans, who saw in Rodrigo a kindred spirit, and for pop fans that welcomed her as a fresh and vibrant presence. Rodrigo’s 2021 debut album SOUR made her the biggest breakout pop star of the decade so far. But it speaks volumes that a commenter on this website recently wrote that the new Mannequin Pussy song sounded like Olivia Rodrigo and meant it as a compliment. But throughout the record, Rodrigo harnesses the spirit of “22,” the Red single about young women spending “miserable and magical” nights on the town, “happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time.” In this case, those sentiments are often funneled into volatile rock songs inspired by the MTV pop-rock hits of the ’90s and 2000s, a pantheon of Rodrigo inspirations-turned-pals that runs from Alanis to Avril.
On GUTS, her sophomore album out today, the young superstar Olivia Rodrigo gets much rawer and messier than her childhood hero Taylor Swift ever did - hence a title designed to evoke both gritty resolve and the spilling of one’s innermost secrets. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling LP2.
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