Guts (stylized in all caps) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, released on September 8, 2023, through Geffen Records. It was written and recorded with Rodrigo working closely alongside Dan Nigro, the producer and multi-instrumentalist of her debut album Sour (2021). Inspired by the period of time immediately following Sour success, Rodrigo conceived Guts hoping to reflect the process of maturity she experienced toward the end of her teenage years.
Guts is a sonically diverse record that blends pop and rock subgenres. The album uses a variety of guitar and drum sounds from alternative and pop rock styles to create energetic songs and soft ballads. The subject matter deals with Rodrigo's coming-of-age transition and its tribulations. The album received universal critical acclaim for its lyrical wit, complexity, topicality, aesthetic and energy. Reviews noted both humorous and emotionally fraught lyrics, detailing Rodrigo's struggles with identity, romantic and professional disillusionment, unexpected stardom, and societal expectations as a young woman.
Guts topped album charts in 15 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In its US debut, it recorded 302,000 first-week album-equivalent units while charting all 12 of its songs in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Three singles were released from the album, including the international number-one track "Vampire", the top-10 song "Bad Idea Right?", and "Get Him Back!". The album's deluxe edition, subtitled Spilled, was released on March 22, 2024, along with its lead single "Obsessed".
At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, the album received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, becoming her second consecutive Album of the Year nomination. Two of the album's tracks—"Vampire" and "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl"—received four further Grammy nominations. In support of the album, Rodrigo embarked on the Guts World Tour (2024–2025), which grossed over $209 million from 101 shows. A concert film documenting the tour's Los Angeles shows was released in October 2024 on Netflix.
Background On May 21, 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released her debut studio album, Sour, to commercial success. Produced by Dan Nigro, it became Spotify's most-streamed album of the year and won Rodrigo three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. She embarked on the Sour Tour, which included 48 shows across North America and Europe, in spring 2022. In August 2021, she revealed that her upcoming record would "be a lot happier" than her debut.
Talking to Billboard in February 2022, Rodrigo confirmed she had a title and "a few songs" ready and that Nigro would return as producer. Rodrigo had aimed to "get as much done as possible" before embarking on the Sour Tour. In late 2022, while revealing her Spotify Wrapped, she confirmed that new music was underway. On January 8, 2023, she posted a clip on her Instagram that featured a piano-driven track.
In June 2023, Rodrigo's website was updated with a countdown set to end on June 30, a date she had also teased in May. On June 13, Rodrigo officially announced the album's lead single, "Vampire", slated for release on June 30, and revealed the single's cover. On June 20, she left her fans a voicemail greeting that included the first previews of "Vampire" and a piano-driven instrumental track. On June 26, 2023, her webstore revealed the official album title, Guts, and its release date. Soon afterward, Rodrigo officially announced the album and posted its artwork on social media.
Writing and recording According to Rodrigo, Guts is about "growing pains" and figuring out her identity at this point in her life: "I feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20". She described it as a natural part of her growth process and hoped to reflect that with the record.
Rodrigo recorded Guts while experiencing "lots of confusion, mistakes, awkwardness & good old fashioned teen angst". Described by her as a "time capsule", the record contains "wrenching, cinematic" ballads and "playful and insouciant" songs, according to Vogue. Rodrigo abstained from songwriting for six months following Sours release, so that she could "live a life in order to be able to write about it". Work on the album concluded about a week before "Vampire" was released. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Rodrigo revealed that she had the title in mind since making Sour. It was influenced by the "interesting contexts" she noticed people use it in: "spill your guts, hate your guts".
Composition Music Guts has been primarily described as a pop, rock, pop-punk, pop rock, alternative pop, and indie pop record with elements of alternative rock, indie rock, emo, new wave, shoegaze, and rap rock. Along with grunge, Jenkins also names power pop among the stylistic tactics. According to BBC journalist Nick Levine, the album contains "emotionally charged" pop rock songs that resonate with both Rodrigo's Generation Z peers and older generations. Guts also features a sonically diverse range of tracks, from soft ballads like "Lacy" to retro-inspired, guitar-driven tunes such as "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl". Rodrigo's collaboration with Nigro played a significant role in the album's development, providing constructive feedback and contributing to its overall sound. According to The A.V. Club, Guts offers a mix of nostalgic and contemporary music elements, helping in the album's appeal with a wide audience.
Rock music features more prominently on Guts than on Sour, expanding on the aggressive and alternative rock sounds demonstrated briefly on Rodrigo's first album. As Los Angeles Times lead critic Mikael Wood writes, Rodrigo and Nigro are shown "switching up guitar tones and drum sounds to give each track a distinct signature". In particular, songs such as "All-American Bitch" and "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" are performed in pop-punk modes, while "Love Is Embarrassing", "Pretty Isn't Pretty", and "Lacy" incorporate new wave, indie pop, and dramatic folk sounds, respectively.
In another comparison to Sour, The A.V. Club identifies much older sources of inspiration behind Guts, particularly the grunge and pop-rock sounds of the 1990s and early 2000s. Line of Best Fit writer Matthew Kim notices "frequent musical inspiration" from the "pop punk and garage rock revival" of the turn of the 21st century, connecting this to Rodrigo's birth around this time and subsequent listening of her parents' alternative rock collection. uDiscoverMusic said Rodrigo uses "wiry" indie pop on the album.
Lyrics Rodrigo's lyrics throughout Guts focus on her transition from adolescence to adulthood, exploring struggles with identity, sudden stardom, romance, and societal expectations for young women. According to Jenkins, the Joan Didion-referencing opener "All-American Bitch" introduces a world of "restrictive societal mores and beauty standards" that Rodrigo navigates throughout the album while in search of "meaningful companionship in a field of layabouts, liars, and social climbers".
Likening Guts conceptually to Billie Eilish's Happier Than Ever (2021), another record that explores the repercussions of fame, Wood observes how "Rodrigo intertwines her tales of social-professional disillusionment with stories of romantic betrayal". Rodrigo admires a rival as a "dazzling starlet" on "Lacy". Similarly, "The Grudge" details how Rodrigo's relationship with a person she looked up to soured; some critics, following fan speculation, have opined that the song could be about Taylor Swift or Gracie Abrams, while others said the song depicts Rodrigo's regret and inability to forgive after a romantic breakup. Jenkins recognizes a "brusque, confident" tone in the rockers, while lyrics about insecurity and maltreatment are revealed in "wounded ballads". Clash magazine's Alex Barry says Rodrigo's narratives are generally marked by complex, verbose lyrics delivered in a "fast talk-singing" style.
Meanwhile, BBC journalist Nick Levine observes "emotionally charged" pop-rock songs reflective of both Rodrigo's Generation Z peers and older generations. On songs such as "Get Him Back!" and "Bad Idea Right?", both satires of Gen Z dating behaviors, Rodrigo employs different tonal inflections and an expansion of the sense of humor "merely hinted at" on Sour, according to Wood: "You can hear her actor's background in pitch-perfect line readings that shift between comic registers on a dime — from naturalistic to screwball, faux-earnest to deadpan". "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" offers a candid portrayal of social awkwardness, drawing from Rodrigo's experience being homeschooled as a teenager. Scholar Theresa Helke commented how the track "Logical" was an example of how pop music can illustrate complex philosophical concepts like the paradox of material implication and the principle of explosion in classical logic.
Release and promotion Guts was released on September 8, 2023, via three box set editions, CD, cassette, download, and streaming services. Preorders for the album began on June 26, 2023. Vinyl LPs, in various colored variants, were also released, each of which were exclusively available at Rodrigo's webstore, Urban Outfitters, Walmart, Amazon, or HMV. A Target-exclusive CD and vinyl edition of Guts featuring an alternate cover was also available upon release. Each of a set of four bonus songs appeared as a 13th "hidden track" on each of the limited-edition vinyl variants sold on Rodrigo's webstore.
After teasing a deluxe edition in early 2024, Rodrigo announced Guts (Spilled) at the Chicago show of her Guts World Tour on March 19, 2024. The deluxe album contains five bonus tracks: the four vinyl-exclusive songs and a track Rodrigo recorded after the release of the standard album. It was released on March 22, 2024. An exclusive two-LP variant of the Spilled edition, comprising the standard and deluxe tracks as a double album, was released on November 29, 2024, for Record Store Day.
Cover artwork The cover artwork for Guts was photographed by Larissa Hoffman. The image depicts Rodrigo reclining on a purple floor and biting her thumb, while wearing a frilly black dress, a blue-violet bra and scarlet lipstick, with four letter rings spelling out the album title on her fingers; her nails are painted with chipped black nail polish. The cover artwork of the Spilled edition is the same as the standard album, but the color of the bra changes to red and depicts a paper rip over Rodrigo's face. The deluxe album's title appears in black sans-serif font in the middle of the torn portion. As with her debut album, Sour, purple—this time in a darker shade—is again the dominant color of the artwork and promotional material for Guts.
Singles The lead single of Guts, "Vampire", was released on June 30, 2023, via streaming platforms, 7-inch, and CD single formats; the latter two additionally feature a demo version of the song. An accompanying music video for the song, directed by Petra Collins in L.A., was uploaded to Rodrigo's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. The song debuted atop the US Billboard Hot 100, marking her third number-one. It also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand,* and the United Kingdom; where it also became her third leader.
"Bad Idea Right?" was announced as the second single though Rodrigo's social media accounts on August 8, 2023, and was released four days later. She stated that the song "shows another side of Guts that's a little more fun & playful". Collins directed the music video for this song as well. It reached the top 10 in Australia, the US, and UK. The song also landed atop the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.