Fans were completely awestruck when Olivia Rodrigo announced “GUTS (spilled)” on the second night of her Chicago shows during her “GUTS world tour.” Fans had suspected that something was coming due to the unreleased track “obsessed” being added to the tour setlist. Considering that Rodrigo included a mix of old and new songs to her new setlist and dropped a music video to “obsessed” on Mar. 22, fans
were curious to see what themes and genres the five songs on the deluxe edition would consist of.
The deluxe edition contains the songs “obsessed,” “girl i’ve always been,” “scared of my guitar,” “stranger,” and “so american.” The new songs explain a new phase of a relationship where there is no denying the damage done and making peace with the outcome. Rodrigo accomplishes this without putting it on the female counterpart, a perspective that we hear from Rodrigo herself. Using gaslighting as a scapegoat and not breaking down over our flaws is a major theme of the five released songs. Not fitting into the box at the same time, fearing that we’ll step into the cracks and fall, is a subtopic.
“Obsessed” makes a point of exploring the feeling that the present girl will eventually become the stereotype, the name written on the page, the last one standing. Standing in the music and realizing that those fears aren’t wrong for you, they’re right, but not wanting the sob sessions is part of this mindset. The sense of closure and the healing time is scary, knowing that it’s not up to you or the other person to fix it.
It’s no easy process, though. Putting trust in life to find the Mr. Right in a world that pins females up on the fact of whether or not they’re dating rather than the quality of the relationship, makes it quite hard, especially in college. The accomplishments of a female also don’t add to the timeliness of a male settling down, so that trap is always set.
What is truly remarkable is that “GUTS (spilled)” plays to the more classical nature of hits like “vampire” that was featured on the original album. Burnout, deja vu, confusion, resentment, and doubt spilling into every other aspect of life are the unreleased tracks’ true strengths. Wanting to have compromise or too much, to be just what one is, and crafting your narrative are key changes in the previous and new version of “GUTS.” The listener can see Rodrigo’s reluctance to share these songs. That’s where the honest, ugly, un-feminine side comes out.
Being aware of the stereotypes but also not apologizing and demanding an equal narrative for each gender are the crucial points she argues by adding these songs to the official album. As females, we’re supposed to be perfect, to be lovesick, to be the victims of a breakup, but we hold the power. We are not the ones who have to take the blame or be at fault through pettiness and drama by taking sides.
Rodrigo is the master of this narrative, which is so powerful. It was purely not accidental in this way. We cried, screamed, and moved on through this alternate ending that was originally curated for audiences to hear. It also adds to the earlier themes established in her first album, “SOUR.” This came out of the middle of the pandemic when most of us were navigating the end of high school and heading into college.
Now we’re heading into our early 20s, somehow we must become adult women. The punk rock, angsty nature adds to this, and the classic allows us to add the feminine without being labeled hormonal or emotional. It’s no longer our age, it’s gender politics. It’s no longer painstakingly brutal cause we’re spilling our emotional guts through feminine tales of courage that we’ve stuffed down for ages.
