Olivia Rodrigo’s new album “GUTS” was recently released nearly two years after her first album “Sour”. The 12 songs focus mainly on guys, breakups, heartache, and growing up as a girl. The songs hit.
Anything you could be going through from being homeschooled to flying to Paris relates to at least one of her songs. A perfect album to listen to in the car for any emotions you feel especially those of anger, yearning, and jealousy.
Olivia’s first album got her praise for her songwriting ability at such a young age. Being wise beyond her years and using that to piece together verses. The songs on “Sour” hold much more of a mature stance while “GUTS” sounds like a 19-year-old girl wrote them. This is true, Olivia Rodrigo is 19. The angst is captured in each song making them that much more powerful and relatable for her audience.
“GUTS” revealed a new layer of Olivia to us. In her song “Teenage Dream” Olivia says, “When am I gonna stop being wise beyond my years and just start being wise?” and “When am I gonna stop being great for my age and just start being good?”
These verses refer to her previous album and how she does not want to uphold an expectation but rather write what she feels in that moment to stay real with herself and those listening. That has clearly been demonstrated through “GUTS”.
With the genre of songs Olivia writes she has been and is compared to Taylor Swift. Comparisons on who writes and has better songs. Taylor Swift is the obvious answer. No one compares to her ability to hit your every emotion and bring those out of you through a song, she is number one.
Students have their own opinions about who is better.
“[Olivia Rodrigo] is a lot better,” said junior Owen Rawlings.
He isn’t alone in that opinion either.
“Yeah [Olivia Rodrigo writes better breakup songs] I don’t really like Taylor Swift. Kanye basically made her famous,” said senior Denver Weir.
Although there are mixed opinions on who writes better songs, there are people I can agree with out there.
“I mean I would say she’s good but, no. I like Taylor Swift’s [songs],” said senior Jenna Liddle.
