Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS: The Secret Tracks Review

Strong studio work but an impenetrable live performance because the last thing someone with tinnitus wants is screaming fans who feel a parasocial relationship with the artist on stage. It is all an act. Olivia Rodrigo is an exceptional worker and has applied the expected charms of the pop star to impressionable people who weep and fall to pieces when they see her, let alone listen. GUTS: The Secret Tracks is a nice middle ground, an extra bit of material for a solid album. You can listen to it in the comfort of your home rather than side to side with those who believe every song Rodrigo or those in her sub-category of pop has written is the best song of the decade. Grow up. These are solid works and GUTS: The Secret Tracks adds new layers to them, but they are not the greatest of all time.  

But then would an artist with confidence in these tracks release the four of them separately depending on which album you order? All roads lead to Taylor Swift-sized dealings. GUTS: The Secret Tracks is a slippery four-track addition to the GUTS momentum. The wheels of the ever-growing indie pop scene will crush us one day. But for now, four offerings from Rodrigo. Nothing major but certainly not a collection of songs to stick your nose up at. Not the best songs of the decade, let’s get that out of the way. Obsessed has the annoyingly catchy interjections to open with but soon spills into a jealousy-laden, instrumentally explosive piece. Decaffeinated brains may consider this a similar track to Get the Party Started from P!nk, but this is pure coincidence and the link is not strong enough to chase. Still, all pop music does is morph into a replication of what we remain nostalgic for.

Stranger presents the inevitable acoustic moment. A light and forgettable piece which, blinkered and unsure of itself, collapses as the guitar plays on and vapid vocals present themselves. GUTS: The Secret Tracks should very well have kept itself a secret. Scared of My Guitar follows suit in its inevitably forgettable yet slightly improved experiences. Fine enough but another example, one of four here, as to why artists are indifferent to the material which does not make it onto their album. These are leftovers and Rodrigo knows it. But she also knows her fans, dedicated and massive as they are, will latch onto the feeling and imagery of the album and any loose bits it gives. It is why Brat was such a success and how Swift can continually lift cash from her fans with muscle tops at £40 a pop. 

But this is what people want and what artists can get away with. Nothing about these four extra tracks is all that memorable. What will last the test of time is how Rodrigo offered these songs out as a way to capitalise on an already successful album and sold-out series of shows. It is hard to provide good faith to those who are peddling poor efforts in return for some extortionate pricing. Does it sully the rest of GUTS? No. It remains one of the finer pop-related releases of the year, but getting anything out of these extra tracks is to suggest the original material was simply not enough. Rodrigo was more than enough on her sophomore album, and cutting these songs from it was an exceptional idea. But releasing them as they have been, in little pockets of exclusivity, then a Record Store Day exclusive, and then dumped on YouTube, is a bitter pill to swallow.