Olivia Rodrigo Guts (CD)

What happens when you go from Disney bit-part player to pops biggest new superstar in the space of a month? Its a very specific mindbender that Olivia Rodrigo tries to unravel on her follow-up to 2021s record-breaking, Grammy-winning debut, Sour (the album that featured her transformational hit Drivers License).

As with that album, Guts dabbles in pepped-up pop-rock (the deliciously camp Bad Idea Right?; the bratty Get Him Back!) and delicate, close-mic balladry as on the pretty-sounding Lacy. But pay closer attention and Lacy drips with bile, the seemingly angelic title character, whom Rodrigo idolised, now out to get her: You poison every little thing that I do.

A similar sentiment courses through lead single Vampire, which blooms from minimal piano into a dramatic coda of tumbling drums and breathless vocals, its pointed lyrics about bloodsuckers rumoured to be about both an ex-lover and ex-friend Taylor Swift.

Elsewhere, Rodrigo turns the focus inwards, grappling with her identity as she moves beyond the expectations of feted teen prodigy (moody closer Teenage Dream) and her attempts to cope with the full glare of fame (Making the Bed).

Overall, Guts is perhaps missing Sours big pop moments, but as a snapshot of an upturned life its consistently fascinating. (Guardian)

Vinyl, Album, Limited Edition, Lavender

Tracklist:
A1 All-American Bitch
A2 Bad Idea Right?
A3 Vampire
A4 Lacy
A5 Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl
A6 Making The Bed
A7 Logical
B1 Get Him Back!
B2 Love Is Embarrassing
B3 The Grudge
B4 Pretty Isnt Pretty
B5 Teenage Dream
B6 Obsessed