With the success of Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, fans were pleasantly surprised by the release of an additional five songs on a new edition, GUTS (spilled). The original album was already filled with vulnerable lyrics and melodies that are equally as fun as they are heartbreaking. Some of the singles such as “bad idea right?” and “get him back!” use wordplay to create upbeat pop or punk rock hits. Other songs, including “the grudge” and “logical,” explore heartbreak with slow ballads and intimate lines. The five new songs continue exploring these opposing themes—admiration and jealousy, love and hate—and add to the uniqueness of this album, with Rodrigo diving deep into her feelings with a range of emotions that add to the value of her original album.
The first bonus track on GUTS (spilled) is called “obsessed.” This song had previously been leaked on TikTok and YouTube, and fans immediately took a liking to its intensity and relatability. They were excited when this long-awaited song was officially made available on streaming platforms. In “obsessed,” Rodrigo talks about being obsessed with her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, discussing the feelings of jealousy and anger towards this girl because she feels she is not up to par with her talent or beauty. As usual, her loud guitar can be heard during the chorus, creating a punk rock effect that is represented in many of Rodrigo’s songs. “obsessed” is similar in context to another song on GUTS called “lacy,” a slow ballad about a girl that Rodrigo envies, who constantly torments her by being everything she feels she cannot be. The songs are similar in that they are both about being jealous of another girl due to insecurities. In both of these songs, Rodrigo makes it obvious that this envy has taken over her thoughts and altered her relationship with herself and her boyfriend. Often, teenage relationships are tainted with jealousy and insecurity; in this song, Rodrigo makes her fans, who are mostly teenagers, aware that they aren’t alone in experiencing this. With “obsessed,” Rodrigo targets her usual teenage girl audience and relates to their intense feelings of insecurity and envy.
The second bonus track on GUTS (spilled) is “girl i’ve always been.” In this song, Rodrigo goes back to the country sound of her childhood music that addresses the opinions of the media as well as her friends and family. Because she started making music at such a young age, many of her fans have grown up with her and listened as she developed her musical styles and lyrical choices. With the release of GUTS, Rodrigo suffered major backlash for having songs with more adult content and explicit lyrics than she had as a younger teenager. In this song, she demonstrates that she is the same girl she has always been despite her growth with music, and that she does not care about the opinions of those who judge her growth. She makes it clear that she is no longer as innocent as she was when she first started making music, but her morals and goals have stayed the same. She knows she has made mistakes but she acknowledges how this is all part of her process of discovery and development through life. This was an important song for her to make because now she has clearly stated her stance on this subject and can no longer be condemned for her personal and musical decisions. With “girl i’ve always been,” Rodrigo uses her platform to tell the people around her and her fans that she is growing as a person and an artist but she will always be the same person at heart.
“scared of my guitar” is the third bonus track on GUTS (spilled). This song is not as bold as her last two tracks. She discusses her feelings toward a boyfriend who she feels she is merely tolerating instead of properly loving. She struggles to decide what to do because although there is nothing inherently wrong with the relationship, she is just not as happy as she knows she should be. The title comes from her fearing that she will write a song where she cannot censor her feelings, which she tries to push away instead of processing. She uses soft guitar notes and a range of vocals to express her delicate emotions toward this situation. With this song, Rodrigo continues to show her audience that they are not necessarily wrong to have these feelings, and encourages them to be open with themselves about these types of relationship difficulties. This song brings a lot of clarity and vulnerability to such a situation with its candid lyrics, as she addresses a tough relationship challenge with an emotional confession of guilt and confusion.
The fourth bonus track on GUTS (spilled) is “stranger.” In Rodrigo’s first album, SOUR, she covered her metamorphic teenage love and eventual heartbreak. This relationship had a rough impact on her teenage years but it also helped her produce her life-changing success of an album. After years of struggling to get over this relationship, Rodrigo announces the ending of that era of her life with this song. She says that the boy in question is now a stranger to her although she still knows him so well, reminiscing on both his positive and negative impacts on her life. She sings of how she is no longer burdened with their relationship and how she is ready to move past it, no longer able to even fathom how he had such an impact on her. Still, she mentions how she is who she is because of him and she will always appreciate the time they spent together; she is simply done reminiscing about their past and is ready to move on to other chapters of her life. This is an important stepping stone in Rodrigo’s career because so much of her original album and the stories about her personal life were based around him. “stranger” is her telling her audience that she is moving forward.
Last but not least is “so american,” the final bonus track on GUTS (spilled). This song is a perfect transition from “stranger” because after describing her getting over her past relationship from her first album, she begins to talk about her new long-term relationship with British actor Louis Partridge. With its fun pop melody and catchy lyrics, this song has become an immediate fan favorite, and also publicized and confirmed the already fan-speculated relationship between Rodrigo and Partridge. Rodrigo talks about her enthusiasm around her new relationship and her pure love for Partridge. Rodrigo is very clearly American and she uses American themes and symbolism in her music very often. She says in this song that her British boyfriend affectionately refers to her as “so American,” which she finds endearing. It also ends GUTS (spilled) on a positive note. This album, full of so much pain, struggle, and jealousy, can finally end with Rodrigo’s diverting feelings toward her new boyfriend. This song opens up some ideas for possible themes of her next album and embraces the concept of happy endings and the light at the end of the tunnel. “so american,” is a lively and witty exploration of a healthy and enjoyable relationship.
Overall, GUTS (spilled) includes a diverse group of five songs that all add an important message to the themes of this album. Olivia Rodrigo gets extremely personal and opens up to her fans about some of the feelings she has had since the original release of GUTS. She has avoided the sophomore slump with her finalized second album and reached a new height of success with her astounding lyricism and catchy tunes. She has truly made her mark on the music industry at such a young age, with still so much room to grow.
