Pop star Olivia Rodrigo has returned with a follow-up to her buzzy No. 1 album, GUTS. The album successfully scored hits with singles like "vampire" and "bad idea right?" On GUTS (spilled), she continues the momentum that originally carried her into pop stardom.
A stand out from GUTS (spilled), "obsessed" tells the story of Rodrigo's titular obsession with a lover's ex-girlfriend. She's fascinated by her, stalking her social media accounts and memorizing facts as she confesses that "I know her star sign/I know her blood type."
Under a fuzzy vocaloid, she concedes "I'm so obsessed with your ex/I know she's been asleep on my side of your bed," leading into a belting chorus. She returns to softer verses, but a bombastic bass and guitar combo keep the energy high. Rodrigo emphasizes that whatever her current boyfriend is saying about his ex, she'll "remember every detail you have evеr told me, so be/ careful, baby." She successfully hyper-fixates on this ex-girlfriend for the track's entirety.
Rodrigo dips into country on "girl i've always been," leaning into the acoustic guitar. She picks up a hint of a Southern coo as she sings, "Well, I have captors I call friends/I got panic rooms inside my head/And I get down with crooked men/But I am the girl I've always been." This trip into bluegrass is a refreshing sound for Rodrigo, who leans into softer vocals on the track. In a feisty change of pace, "girl i've always been" flirts with a solid genre switch.
GUTS (spilled) enters somber moments on "scared of my guitar" and "stranger." The former sees Rodrigo fearing the very thing that's skyrocketed and defined her career: Her music. She softly sings, "But I'm so scared of my guitar/'Cause it cuts right through to the heart/Yeah, it knows me too well so I got no excuse/I can't lie to it the same way that I lie to you" over minimal acoustic strums. Her strongest weapon makes for her biggest enemy.
She continues into the heartfelt "stranger," where she reflects on a former lover who has disappeared from her life. Rodrigo admits, "I criеd a million rivers for you, but that's over now/You're just a strangеr I know everything about, ooh, ooh." The acoustic guitar scoring her heartbroken lament echoes the country twang of "girl i've always been." These minimalistic moments in GUTS (spilled) showcase Rodrigo baring her soul for the listener.
What she described as her first true love song, "so american" sees Rodrigo delivering an ode to a new romantic partner. Rather than look back upon a flubbed hookup or a past boyfriend, she focuses on the person at hand.
The track centers on a presumably British lover, one whom she says, "Looks like a poem I wish I wrote." She continues, elaborating on her beau's mocking of her American-isms ("Drivin' on the right-side road") and how "it's just not fair of him/To make me feel this much." She's unabashedly in love, noting that she may even marry him if "he keeps this sh-- up." Based on photos of the two from December, the subject of "so american" appears to be British actor Louis Partridge.
GUTS (spilled) opens up the world of Rodrigo's original album into an even more vulnerable chapter of the young pop star's life. The deluxe LP highlights her strengths, and tactfully avoids weaknesses. GUTS (spilled) balances experimentation ("girl i've always been") with classic Rodrigo-isms ("scared of my guitar"), blending together to paint a picture of a budding pop-punk princess, one who isn't afraid to leave her castle.
