“The Grudge” is at the same powerful level - she torments herself over a breakup, arguing with him when she’s alone in front of her bedroom mirror. Rodrigo’s voice chokes with rage as she sings, “Said I was too young, I was too soft/Can’t take a joke, can’t get you off.” The song builds to the point where she sings the troubling line “I know I’m half responsible” (she’s not) and ends by asking herself, “Why didn’t I stop it all?” Like so many of these songs, it’s the story of a young woman getting manipulated and humiliated by an older man.
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Olivia goes full blast with putdowns like “He had an ego and a temper and a wandering eye/He said he’s 6-foot-2 and I’m like, dude, nice try.” She can’t decide whether she wants to “get him back” as in reuniting, or as in revenge, but she craves both at the same time, so she vows, “I wanna key his car/I wanna make him lunch/I wanna break his heart then be the one to stitch him up.” There’s also an intriguing personal aside when she quips, “I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I can fix him?”īut the best moments on Guts are her emotional piano ballads like “Logical,” “The Grudge,” and “Teenage Dream.” “Logical” is the most poignant and powerful moment on the album. “Get Him Back!!” rips into a bad-news boyfriend, with a brain-devouring pop-punk chorus and a Joan Jett-level air-guitar hook.
In “Love Is Embarrassing,” she fumes, “You found a new version of me/And I damn near started World War 3.” But she’s always coming back for more, though she admits, “I’m planning out my wedding with some guy I’m never marrying.” The closest thing to a happy romantic connection is the ex she jumps in “Bad Idea Right,” who at least owns a bed.
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Her love life is brutal as ever, and she knows how to savor it as a great joke. At the end, she sneers, “I’m grateful all the time/I’m sexy and I’m kind/I’m pretty when I cry.” (That line might feel like a shout-out to her pal Lana Del Rey.)
It’s full of slumber-party energy (“I’m light as a feather, stiff as a board”) as she sings about striving to live up to a perfect ideal (“I got class and integrity, just like a goddamn Kennedy”) but trying to hide her dark side. “All-American Bitch” kicks it off with a fantastic pop-punk angst rant, with a title from Joan Didion, picking up where “Brutal” stopped. Instead, she focuses on the topic she really cares about as a songwriter: the gawky, insecure, ordinary American Every-Girl we met in “Driver’s License.” All over Guts, she shows off her amazing flair for detailed storytelling, making each line feel like she’s just spilling it out, one pained confession at a time. The great lead single, “Vampire,” turns out to be a total outlier, because it’s the only song that goes for a celebrity-life angle. Rodrigo avoids all the typical second-album pitfalls - no songs about how fame is stressful, no songs about social media.
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