Olivia Rodrigo proves on Guts that she’s one of the more exciting artists to come out of Mickey Mouse’s pop star assembly line – especially when she leans more towards her rock side.
My initial impressions of Olivia Rodrigo were not good. In
fact, I was convinced that she represented everything wrong with this new
generation of pop musicians. It seemed unfair that another ex-Disney-Channel star
could swan into the music industry and start scoring hits, just because she was
already a household name among teens. After all, was there really anything
original about ‘driver’s license’? As many others have commented, it sounds
just like a Taylor Swift song. Meanwhile, ‘good 4 u’ sounded like a flagrant
attempt to imitate Paramore. She later gave both artists songwriting credits, but this only highlighted the fact that she didn't have her own sound. And lyrically, she seemed to be yet another Gen Z artist
resorting to I-hate-my-toxic-ex anthems. Thank God, she wasn’t interpolating nursery rhymes, but why did every song have to be so bitter? Where is the love???
I decided not to listen to her debut album Sour, and
I had no desire to listen to her new album Guts. But then I started
to see lots of people hyping up this album on Twitter (No Elon, I’m not calling
it X), and I decided maybe I ought to give Rodrigo another chance. Maybe I’d
got her all wrong. Maybe she had evolved into a mature and innovative artist.
The title of the opening track ‘all-american bitch’ didn’t
fill me with much optimism. And it starts off as a fairly unassuming pop
ballad. But then it ambushes you with this big rock-flavoured belter of a
chorus, followed by an externalised ‘internal scream’ over a semi-dissonant
guitar solo. Not only was I pleasantly surprised by this detour into rock, but
how authentic it sounded. I've since discovered that Rodrigo grew up on alt rock, and you can hear
this passion in her voice and the instrumentation. While fellow Disney alumni Miley Cyrus and
Demi Lovato may cosplay as rock chicks, Rodrigo is the
real deal.
This is clear not just from the opening track, but from the various exciting
rock-infused songs on the first half of this album. Following track ‘bad idea right’ features
some genuinely thrilling Foo-Fighters-esque riffage, while ‘ballad of a
homeschooled girl’ turns out not to be a ballad at all but a grungy alt-pop banger with Nirvana energy. What separates
these songs from their influences is Rodrigo’s creatively playful delivery and
equally playful subject matter. From the abrupt stop after ‘I know I should
stop’ to the dismissive delivery of ‘And I’m sure I’ve seen much hotter
men/ but I really can’t remember when’, ‘bad idea right’ is packed with so
many fun inflections as she toys with the idea of going back home with her ex. ‘ballad
of a homeschooled girl’ is equally dynamic and creative with it’s semi-rapped
verse, shout-sung chorus and nostalgic ‘ahh-ahhs’, while also serving as a unique
anthem for homeschoolers who feel socially stunted (as opposed to another song
about social anxiety at high school).
I would have loved a whole album of Rodrigo in rock mode. In
fact, these are the best pop punk songs I’ve heard this decade. Unfortunately, the
second half of the album sees Rodrigo opting mostly for pop ballads that sound
like watered-down Lorde. Her USP – her playful vocal delivery – is cast aside
on tracks like ‘the grudge’ and ‘logical’ in favour of a more subdued vocal
performance. Combined with the stripped back instrumentation and generic bitter
breakup lyrics, I find these tracks to be pretty dull.
That isn’t to say that Rodrigo can’t write a decent pop ballad
though. ‘Vampire’ is an exceptional pop ballad, even if it is another I-hate-my-toxic-ex
anthem. It has a great build-up (complete with a bridge. You don’t get many of
those in pop anymore!) that leads to a soaring chorus that climaxes with the
lines ‘bloodsucker, famefucker/ bleedin me dry like a Goddamn vampire’.
Unlike the other ballads on this record, it makes full use of Rodrigo’s dynamic
vocal range, while also sounding genuinely pained instead of just bitter. If
all her ballads were this good, this would be an AOTY contender.
★★★☆☆
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