Today is the highly anticipated release day for GUTS, the second album from the nighly accolaided Olivia Rodrigo. This album, eagerly awaited by fans, follows her 2021 debut, SOUR, which went 4x Platinum. GUTS includes the chart-topping hit “vampire” and the new focus track “get him back!”
Produced by her frequent collaborator Daniel Nigro and partly created at the iconic Electric Lady Studios in New York City, GUTS represents a significant evolution in Olivia Rodrigo’s songwriting honesty and her unique sound. The album has already received praise from prominent publications like the New York Times, which recently featured the 20-year-old artist, suggesting that Olivia Rodrigo might just be a rock star.
“vampire,” released in June, introduced fans to Rodrigo’s expanded artistic range and received critical acclaim. The Atlantic described it as a “sizzling extreme” of her confessional-pop style, while the Los Angeles Times called it a “feat of introspection scaled up to rock-operatic dimensions.” The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, set a Spotify record for the biggest debut for a solo song in 2023, and topped the charts at Top 40 Radio. Recently, “vampire” also claimed the No. 1 spot on the UK Official Singles Chart, making Olivia Rodrigo the female artist with the most No. 1 singles in the UK this decade.
Like “vampire,” the second single from GUTS, “bad idea right?,” earned praise from Pitchfork, which called it “one of the best pop performances of the year.” Released alongside a B-movie-inspired video last month, “bad idea right?” also received positive reviews from Rolling Stone, who dubbed it a “sugary headbanger,” and the New York Times, which praised it as a “bright, kaleidoscopic head-rush of a pop song” in its weekly column “The Playlist.”
Thanks to the monumental success of “vampire” and her 5x Platinum debut single “drivers license,” Olivia Rodrigo has achieved a historic feat. She’s now the first artist ever to debut the lead singles from two debut albums at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and she holds the record as the youngest artist in Hot 100 history to debut three hits at No. 1. Additionally, SOUR is the fastest album ever to have all its songs certified RIAA Platinum.
