React: Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS (spilled)

I'm obsessed.

I’m not sure if I’ve publicly admitted this but I wasn’t that big of a fan of Olivia Rodrigo’s first album. However, I truly fell in love with her second album, GUTS. So, of course, I’m going to react to the deluxe version of her album, GUTS (spilled).

First and foremost, I’m a huge fan of artists rebranding the deluxe versions of albums. It’s a small touch, but it’s way better than calling them "deluxe" or "deluxe version" or "platinum" or whatever. Another album that went this way was Sabrina Carpenter’s emails i can’t send: fwd or Taylor Swift’s Midnights (3am Edition).

So without further ado, let’s dive into Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS (spilled).

obsessed

The beginning of this track sounds like it could’ve possibly started the entire album. I love those high-pass filters, stripping away all the bass and leaving just the upper mids and treble.

The driving bass and analog kick drum are fantastic. The bass is a bit more electronic and digital and the kick drum sounds like an actual, physical drum set. The two combined give an interesting sound. The kick drum is very bouncy and has a tiny bit of reverb as well. In the first verse, you also have the digital hi-hat, which is an interesting choice.

Then you throw that all the way in the chorus. Very loud and in your face drums. I am absolutely in love with the contrast. The whisper talking is very intimate. It sounds like a single mono recording split and panned into the left and right channels.

This track is so Olivia-coded. It’s right up her wheelhouse. It has a bit of a spy/mysterious vibe. I love it. A great first track to the deluxe album. The best way to describe the track is chaotic peace. The verses and bridge are very clean and tight, while the choruses let loose and are very messy.

A definite head bopper. My only disappointment with the track is that it sounded like the track was going to flow smoothly into the next. Not at all. All of that energy just ends abruptly.

girl i’ve always been

First of all, a two minute and one second song? I get that with streaming, songs are getting shorter and shorter but this is extra short. Which only means one thing: I’m automatically in love.

After obsessed, I definitely thought we were going to continue with the high-energy rock vibe, but girl i’ve always been seems to be an acoustic ballad. Nothing wrong with that, I’m all for it. Just not expected.

Not quite a ballad, but it’s an acoustic track. That acoustic guitar and layering of the various guitars are great. Very basic beat with just a kick drum and an open hi-hat and a bass that’s buried very low in the mix.

scared of my guitar

Is this the actual ballad? I think so. Olivia has quite the range and this track shows it. Her vocals sit much higher in the frequency range here. Very treble forward vocal. I can hear every S and T here.

There’s not much for me to say here. It’s a beautiful track. Olivia is very vulnerable here. I was very distracted by that.

stranger

I love the harmonies here in the chorus. It’s very soft and the range isn’t terribly wide but it gives her main vocals room to breathe and compliments it really well.

The double guitar is also great. It’s two separate tracks playing two separate chords, but it’s very subtle. If you’re not really listening to it, you might think it’s a single guitar or a single doubled guitar. But nope, it’s two separate guitars. And of course, the centered shaker.

I wouldn’t say it’s traditional country, but maybe modern or pop country. That’s the best way to describe this track. With that classification, stranger is currently my favorite track of the deluxe portion of the album so far.

so american

Sounds like we’re ending the album with an energetic track. I love the whisper vocals here. Beyond the first verse, I’m really liking the vocals with the slightest reverb.

Oh nice, a synth. Speaking about the deluxe tracks specifically, that’s a pleasant surprise (is it the first time we’re getting a synth on the deluxe tracks? I don’t remember). It blends well with the thin bass line and the overbearing drums.

This track gives me a slight 80s retro pop vibe. It doesn’t quite give closure/end of album vibes. But we’ve also seen artists release one or two more tracks in the future in addition to the initial deluxe tracks so I guess we’ll see.

Conclusion

As I wrote at the top, I wasn’t a huge fan of her original album, despite its commercial success. But GUTS has been such a good album to me. I vibe with it wholeheartedly. The deluxe tracks gave me that much more to love.

I’ve been pretty critical of deluxe tracks last year, but with how 2024 is going so far, that is very clearly changing.

I mean what else is there to say? If you loved GUTS before, GUTS (spilled) will feel right at home. If you didn’t like the original album, I don’t think the deluxe tracks will change your mind (that’s fine, we all have different tastes).

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NOTE: This reaction was completed after listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS (spilled) deluxe tracks on Tide with Hi-Fi Plus via Roon ARC (24-bit, 48 kHz - compressed to Bluetooth AAC).