Olivia Rodrigo, “GUTS.”

What do Avril Lavigne, Jack White and Taylor Swift all have in common? All of them have met Olivia Rodrigo and love her. Also, all three are in the DNA of her newest album, GUTS.

The much anticipated follow-up to 2021 debut SOUR, which won three Grammys and the admiration of the music world, is finally here.

Fans of SOUR won’t be disappointed with the new album. GUTS shares a lot with that first record in terms of subject matter; exes, heartbreak and angst, feelings of being lost and the social expectations of young women. Sonically, it’s also consistent with the kind of pop-punk, synth-centric, alt-rock that Rodrigo developed on her first album. The chaotic, poppy, sometimes abrasive kind that forays into shades of punk.

But GUTS is more mature than its predecessor. It’s partially so because Olivia Rodrigo is growing as a songwriter, but also because she’s grown up a bit. Rodrigo was 20 at the time of writing (she was 17 when she wrote the first) and looks at the world a little differently.

On many tracks, she laments the same feelings but with a different kind of self-awareness. “Making the bed,” about many things, is a great example. Among the topics covered: How making music as a job makes it a chore, the superficial and para-social relationship artists have with their fans and the hollowness of superficial friendships. But this time around, Rodrigo takes responsibility for them calling these situations her own fault.

GUTS is also more experimental than SOUR. Where the first was content to take Rodrigo’s influences to their natural extremes (i.e. “good 4 u” as a pastiche of Paramore’s “Misery Business”) the new one branches out further. “Bad idea right” (the song titles all all still lowercase) has a guitar solo at the end that sounds like it’s straight out of Jack White’s solo discography. “Vampire” takes Eurobeat dance-floor percussion and injects a crazy amount of energy into what is otherwise a fantastic heartbreak ballad. “Get him back!” is built around a fuzzy electric bass line that just absolutely propels the energy of the song in a really interesting way.

The album starts boldly way “all-american bitch,” which showcases both her melodic singing voice alongside her shouts over blaring, fuzzy guitar lines. It’s followed up with singles “bad idea right?” and “vampire.” Overall, it’s a strong start to a pop album.

“Lacy” is another highlight that deals with Rodrigo’s habit of comparing herself to other women. The track centers on the feelings of love, admiration, envy, jealousy, and resultant self-loathing that result from that age-old femme dilemma: “Do I want to date her, or do I want to be her?”

“Love is embarrassing,” is probably the least developed track and reads like a straightforward Paramore tribute. It’s not bad but doesn’t stand out among the lyrically stronger other material. “Pretty isn’t pretty” is an enjoyable, relatable song more akin to a Phoebe Bridgers or Boygenius than anything she’s released before. It’s a welcome experiment that explores body dysmorphia; dealing with it, medicating it and seeing it everywhere. The lyrics will gnaw at your soul, even if you don’t personally relate to eating disorders or unfair beauty standards.

“It’s on the poster on the wall, it’s in the shitty magazines/ It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed/ It’s all around, it’s all the time, I don’t know why I even try,” she sings.

GUTS is already strong on the first listen and worthy successor.