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After the release of her extremely popular debut SOUR in 2021, shortly following her driver’s license success, Olivia is back with another purple-themed album also titled in all caps. Though I never reviewed SOUR, I did enjoy it. Yes, the writing was a bit one-note and juvenile at times, but nevertheless Olivia marks a strong beginning to her musical career with several catchy hits that perfectly capture how it feels to be a teenager. The album also competently utilized a lot of 2000s pop-punk/pop-rock elements a la Paramore or Hole, providing some much needed variety next to the rather monotonous pop ballads.

For GUTS, the singles vampire and bad idea right? were released to bring Olivia back into the public spotlight after a bit of a break, and to drum up some hype for the album. There was a bit of cautious optimism on my end during the GUTS album rollout – the phrase “sophomore slump” is a thing for a reason, and though I enjoyed both singles, they were both a little too similar to SOUR, though the shakeup at the end of vampire showed some interesting production. This is not to say that I think Olivia has to radically shake up her sound, but I was worried that GUTS would end up as an album of tracks from the cutting room floor of SOUR.

Fortunately, GUTS is absolutely not just a collection of tracks that didn’t make it onto SOUR, though it clearly does continue with the sonic and aesthetic direction of its predecessor. There is no question that the writing has matured here, and the production is a lot more confident and varied. Similar to her inspirations, the album discusses the woes of teenage-girlhood within the modern context, starting from the strong opening track all-american b***h that satirizes the hypocritical standards enforced on women from a young age to the woeful closing track teenage dream that sees Olivia musing about the fears of arrested development – of not embracing what are supposedly “the best years of your life” and seemingly bidding her teenage years goodbye, GUTS both pokes fun at the messiness of girlhood and regrettable relationships whilst taking the fears and pains of that period of life seriously. That has always been the allure of Olivia’s music to me – there is no shame behind embracing the uncertain, erratic parts of yourself.

Though the highs of GUTS are much better than SOUR, GUTS also presents some rather weak and forgettable ballads. With the exception of lacy, which is a wonderfully heartbreaking track that captures an almost sapphic jealousy, I seriously could not remember how many of the other ballads went, whilst I could still remember the more simplistic ballads of SOUR.

Though I did enjoy GUTS, I do wonder where Olivia will take her music to next. Despite the similarities between GUTS and SOUR, Olivia clearly expresses awareness of her teen-pop image and this need to mature or grow-up. I don’t see Olivia ever going full alternative or indie, but it would be nice to see Olivia trying out different genres now that she’s conquered the sophomore slump.

Best Track(s): “all-american bitch”, “lacy”, “ballad of a homeschooled girl”

Rating: 7.0/10