“GUTS” Album Review

2023 had been called the “year of the Barbie,” and for good reason. Since Barbie’s July release, popular culture has been dominated by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and TikTok girlhood montages. 

Perhaps the movie’s cultural significance is due to its fresh take on female power. Barbie’s struggle with constricting ideals of perfection reminded women that true feminism is duplicity. Girlhood became just as much about flaws as it was about power. 

This was the cultural landscape in which Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS entered teenage girls’ minds in September. The first track, all-american bitch, feels like the cold open to a satirical sitcom.

I am built like a mother and a total machine…I feel for your every little issue, I know just what you mean.”

The song responds to Rodrigo’s newfound stardom and the endless balancing game women are forced to play. Funnily enough, it channels the same crumbling optimism that Margot Robbie’s Barbie did.

“I’m grateful all the time, I’m sexy and I’m kind, I’m pretty when I cry,” the song alternates between mellow, strained affirmations and an angry punk-rock release. 

GUTS is young, loud, messy and accompanied by Rodrigo’s screams. It feels like everything a teenage girl is. Rodrigo sings about her illogical, emotionally-driven decisions in bad idea right? and logical. ballad of a homeschooled girl and pretty isn’t pretty are insecure, while making the bed and lacy are self-loathing. 

“I stumbled over all my words, I made it weird, I made it worse,” Rodrigo sings. Throughout the album, she puts messiness poetically. GUTS is grungy guitars, catchy choruses and thoughtful aesthetics. Her artful framing of negative emotions allows the listener to crumble gracefully. 

While listening, I was reminded of how Barbie redefined feminine strength. The movement to highlight female power is necessary, but also exhausting. I grew up on female icons who were too strong to cry. When empowerment is one-dimensional, it puts women in a straightjacket. Emotion is an asset. Strength and imperfection are not opposites. 

After Rodrigo’s debut album, SOUR went #1, there was extreme pressure to maintain her success, to prove she was worth the attention. However, after reaching the top, the strongest thing Rodrigo did was break.

When young girls listen to GUTS, they are listening to a powerful woman create art in her struggle. They are listening to an effortlessly cool girl sing about “feel[ing] like sh*t over and over again.” Although vulnerability in music is nothing new, it is rarely as universal, relatable, relevant and catchy. GUTS fueled the fire that Barbie started, encouraging women to quit playing chess against themselves and start embracing imperfections.

Vulnerability takes massive guts. Olivia Rodrigo has them.