In today’s social media climate, trending musicians are always changing. However, no social media platform has been able to get rid of Olivia Rodrigo’s hit sophomore album, GUTS. Rodrigo has emerged as an undeniable force in the evolving industry of pop-rock and singer-songwriter music. Similar to Rodrigo’s first album, Sour, GUTS is a fearless exploration of normal teenage angst and self-discovery. Following the massive success of Sour, the young artist did not hold back when telling stories that many teens can relate to.
One indisputable aspect of GUTS is the way in which Rodrigo shares her raw emotion. After gaining such immense popularity from her first album, many fans were expecting her to keep her feelings out of her song lyrics due to drama and speculation. However, Rodrigo just does not see that approach as productive. Rodrigo tells 69 News, “I hope people scream it and dance to it and I hope it helps them understand and process their feelings in some way, that’s certainly what it was for me.” Rodrigo makes it a point to share with the world that her music is told with feeling and truth.
Similar to Sour, GUTS explores the intricacy of relationships, this time with a more mature and self-reflective outlook. Her song “Making the Bed” delves into the idea of taking accountability and that mistakes are made on both ends of relationships. TikTok has been exploding with the relatability of Rodrigo’s take on relationships and the importance of reflecting on them. In her live music videos, Rodrigo shows these raw emotions while singing about her own personal relationships, making sure not to reveal who her songs are about.
The first track released on GUTS, titled “Vampire” is a heart-wrenching pop ballad about one of Rodrigo’s heartbreaks. On The Today Show Rodrigo was asked why she does not reveal who “Vampire” is about. She responded confidently with, “Why would I pigeonhole a song into being about this one thing in my life, when everyone has their own interpretation?” Instead of revealing her personal drama, Rodrigo makes efforts to assure that listeners have their own personal connection to her music. With Rodrigo’s ability to convey such depths that so many people can relate to, why would she pigeonhole the lyrics to one specific thing?
In her quest to focus on relatability and normalcy, even after becoming a global sensation, Rodrigo took matters into her own hands to take college courses. In her poetry class at University of Southern California, Rodrigo wrote a poem titled “Lacy” which she turned into one of her hit songs on GUTS. Not often does a poetry class assignment become a global pop sensation! Rodrigo talks about taking these classes quite casually when saying to Z100 New York, “I love learning and I love writing. It’s my favorite thing.” Her showing the importance of education and schooling to her is an inspiration to many of her young fans.
As Rodrigo knows that she is a role model for so many young girls, she chooses to use her platform to talk about issues that are so common and important to her. She often brings light to the cycle of insecurities and judgment amongst young girls that she goes through herself. In her song “Pretty isn’t Pretty,” featured on GUTS, Rodrigo makes light of this issue. Her lyrics, “Cause there’s always somethin’ missin, ‘There’s always somethin’ in the mirror that I think looks wrong,” show that she goes through the same insecurities and pressures that girls struggle with everyday. Rodrigo’s ability to be so open about these struggles is a major reason why her following supports her so much.
Recently, Rodrigo announced her GUTS world tour. This is her second tour, but this time around, Rodrigo is easily selling out stadiums like Madison Square Garden and the Wells Fargo Center, with people still fighting for tickets. Rodrigo knows how difficult it is to get tickets due to ticketing sites’ high prices, so she enacted an innovative system. Since it is out of her control how high ticketing sites set their prices, Rodrigo created a special group of $20 tickets that will be available to select fans. Even though this is only a small number of tickets, and only minutely changes the trajectory of ticket accessibility, it is a way for Rodrigo to show that she understands the difficulty of acquiring tickets to large concerts. If you have taken a liking to Olivia Rodrigo’s music, or even her message, you can try to purchase tickets to go see her on her GUTS tour!
