"Guts" by Olivia Rodrigo

The bigger, bolder sophomore effort from one of the planet’s biggest pop stars.

Olivia Rodrigo’s grandiose, often bitingly funny Guts does what every great sequel should: double-down on what made the debut material so exceptional. It takes the good-girl-gone-bad energy and dials it up to 11, preferring to verbally and musically torch the world’s expectations of how an early-20-something woman should act. In the process, Rodrigo pays homage to strong (and, sadly, often publicly divisive) female performers from years gone by. Despite what the online haters will likely say, this record isn’t solely made for the TikTok generation. There are deft nods to Debbie Harry, Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams, and Courtney Love throughout, signaling that she has more interest in putting on her best dirtbag sneer than a pretty, empty smile for the cameras. I mean, opening your new album with a raucous track titled “all-american bitch” more or less speaks for itself.

True to that tone-setter, there’s lots of performative pettiness on display here, and I mean that in the best way possible. “get him back!” is “good 4 u” on a grander, more arena-sized scale, featuring vocals that sound far more mature than they did the first time around. “bad idea right?” turns that vicious spotlight inwards, making herself the butt of the joke with stream-of-consciousness songwriting that’s instantly relatable “Yes, I know that he’s my ex/But can’t two people reconnect?” All those moments aside, the album’s real showstoppers are the ballads. This format lets Rodrigo pair down the theatrics and showcase her chops behind the mic. “vampire” will undoubtedly go down as one of the year’s best songs, while “teenage dream” is the perfect closer for a record like this, asking tough questions while still holding onto hope that redemption isn’t far away.

Despite my initial skepticism, Olivia Rodrigo exceeds expectations with this release. It’s one of the year’s best.