Olivia Rodrigo has topped the charts with her “brutal” takeover of the music industry.
Her second album, “Guts,” released on Sept. 8, had over 60 million first-day streams and over 200 million streams total. With the “Guts” tour kicking off, fans need to be prepared and familiar with Rodrigo’s tracks to fully enjoy their experience at one of Rodrigo’s shows. With that being said, here is a preliminary ranking of the top five songs on Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts.”
5. “Making the Bed”
“Making the bed,” the sixth track on “Guts,” is an apologetic ballad about Rodrigo’s general dissatisfaction with her social life and popularity, which leaves her feeling guilty, knowing that many people would love to be in her position.
In an interview with The Guardian, Rodrigo talked about the strangeness of getting noticed for songs that are “raw and intimate.”
“On a certain level, you feel like people really know you – and they do, but not in the way that your friends or family would know you.”
“Making the Bed” is clever in that it’s vague enough for listeners to relate to, yet it also tells Rodrigo’s personal story. In the chorus, she sings, “I’m so tired of bein’ the girl that I am / Every good thing has turned into somethin’ I dread / And I’m playin’ the victim so well in my head.”
The song’s muted piano, without a climax, further amplifies the emotional standstill Rodrigo finds herself in, allowing her to freely move between guilt and dissatisfaction.
4. “Lacy”
“Lacy,” the fourth track on “Guts,” is about envy and jealousy toward another woman that Rodrigo sees as her competition.
The track features a soft acoustic guitar and strings, making it soothing, almost like something you could fall asleep to. The song documents Rodrigo’s envy for a woman named “Lacy,” using contradictions such as the lyrics “Lacy, oh, Lacy, skin like puff pastry / Aren’t you the sweetest thing on this side of h***?”
The repetition of the song’s title also shows Rodrigo’s obsession with Lacy, emphasizing her fixation.
The song ends with the lyrics “Lacy, oh, Lacy, I just loathe you lately / And I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you, yeah / I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you.” They bring out the deep internal conflict Rodrigo is having because of Lacy, showing Rodrigo’s vulnerability for a second time on this album.
3. “Teenage Dream”
“Teenage Dream” is about Rodrigo growing up in the spotlight, living up to the success of her previous work and the fear that she might not be able to keep up.
“It’s about a fear of not being a teenager anymore and not having this image of being some type of ingénue or prodigy kid,” Rodrigo said in an interview with RollingStone.
“Teenage Dream” is a perfect final track for “Guts.” It concludes the album as a piano ballad with reflective, somewhat weary pacing. The vulnerability in Rodrigo’s delivery makes the song feel like a quiet reckoning with adulthood, such as when she sings, “And when are all my excuses of learning my lessons gonna start to feel sad? / Will I spend all the rest of my years wishing I could go back?”
The song is truly tied together with the final section, where Rodrigo repeats the lyrics “They all say that it gets better, it gets better the more you grow / Yeah, they all say that it gets better, it gets better, but what if I don’t?”
Rodrigo closes the album with uncertainty and self-questioning, rather than resolution, which is very on brand for the rest of “Guts.”
2. “All-American B****”
“All-American B****”, the opening song for “Guts,” is about feminine rage and the expectations thrust upon Rodrigo as a woman.
According to Interview Magazine, her inspiration for the song was a scene from the book “The White Album” by Joan Didion.
“She was talking to some hippie who ran away from home, and he called his mom an ‘all-American b****’,” she said. “And I was like, ‘That’s the coolest phrase I’ve ever heard.’’’
The song starts out soft, with the lyrics “I am light as a feather, I’m as stiff as a board / I pay attention to things that most people ignore,” essentially showing the characteristics that an ‘ideal woman’ should live up to.
Unexpectedly, as the chorus begins, the song turns into a thunderous anthem as distorted guitars and pitchy drums crash in with the lyrics “Forgive, and I forget / I know my age, and I act like it / Got what you can’t resist / I’m a perfect all-American.”
The standards society places on young women are perfectly encapsulated in the satirical song, with the sudden contrast of the chorus, almost as if Rodrigo is losing her temper or exploding at these expectations.
1. “The Grudge”
“The Grudge” is about Rodrigo’s attempts to let go of her feelings about something somebody did to her in the past, but she can’t.
Another piano ballad, the tenth song on “Guts,” has more power from what it withholds than from what it adds. The track feels heavy and intimate with decay between notes and long spaces of soft instrumentals.
Rather than focusing on a rapid, intense heartbreak, the grudge documents long-term emotional damage, creating a conflict between forgiveness and self-preservation.
Rodrigo repeatedly emphasizes how a betrayal altered her sense of self-trust. The lyrics avoid specific details, which universalize the experience and make the hurt feel broader, allowing the listener to relate to her.
Lyrics, such as “And I say I don’t care, I say that I’m fine / But you know I can’t let it go, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried for so long / It takes strength to forgive, but I don’t feel strong,” suggest that the actions of the person she is singing about have become a deep wound for her. “The Grudge” ends with these lyrics as well, marking the most emotional song on “Guts” and possibly one of the most emotional songs of 2023.
