Mark your calendars for September 8 and start planning your best purple outfit now, because Olivia Rodrigo's new album is coming so soon. I repeat, new Olivia Rodrigo music is coming soon! The musician officially announced the release date for her highly, highly anticipated second album — and it's closer than you think.
Here's everything you need to know about Olivia Rodrigo's new album, including the release date, track list, and the meaning behind its one-word title.
What's the name of Olivia Rodrigo's second album?
The musician had been teasing new music for weeks, leading fans to believe something was in the works. (Was she inspired by her good friend Taylor Swift, queen of the easter eggs? Likely.) On June 26, she took to Twitter to share that her second album, called Guts, was coming soon; her previous album, Sour, was released in 2021.
“My sophomore album GUTS comes out September 8th,” Rodrigo wrote. "I am so proud of this record and I can’t wait to share it with you all! U can presave it now! xoxoxoxo."
Previously, Rodrigo talked about the expectations of following such a successful debut album, telling Billboard in 2022 that she was “exploring” new ideas and having fun while trying not to put too much pressure on herself. “It’s definitely a different experience writing a second album after having a debut that was so well received,” she said. “I still write so much of my music in my bedroom though, and I don’t think that experience will ever change. Writing songs will hopefully always be an outlet for me to process my feelings before anything else.”
What will Olivia Rodrigo's Guts be about?
While we don’t exactly know what the entire album will be about, Rodrigo has given out some teasers about the album’s motifs, especially regarding how they compare to her debut. “It’s, I think, a little rockier than Sour, definitely a lot happier,” the singer shared during an appearance on SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio in July. “I think it’s a little tongue-in-cheek and a little playful, which is a side of myself and my music that I think I didn’t really show in Sour, so I’m really excited to kind of explore that in this album.”
Rodrigo has shared that her ultimate goal with Guts is to showcase her maturity, which she echoed in a statement. “For me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life,” she wrote around the album announcement. “I feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20 — it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that’s all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully, the album reflects that.”
Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Rodrigo shared that she and producer Dan Nigro “worked really hard to make something that felt fresh and new and exciting to me without completely just diverging from everything that we did on the last album.” The first step in that direction was “Vampire,” which Rodrigo says feels “like a natural progression, a natural step forward” for her not only thematically but also sonically.
When does Olivia Rodrigo's second album come out?
Guts is set to drop on September 8, 2023. During the weekend of August 18, Rodrigo told Capital FM that a GUTS Tour is absolutely in the cards for this new era. “I think there’s a lot of fun songs. I wrote the album with a tour in mind, so I think they’re all songs I wanted people to be able to scream in a crowd,” she said. “Hopefully that’s what’s achieved.” Who else is ready to scream But can't two people reconnect? at the top of their lungs?
What will be on the Guts track list?
Rodrigo previously announced that “Vampire,” the first single from the album, would officially be released on June 30 and gave fans a peek at the promo art, a black and white shot of Rodrigo in profile with a light purple bandage on her neck where a vampire bite would be. Fans could also call the Heartbreak Hotline at 323-622-SOUR to hear a snippet of the song. “Vampire” turned out to be a piano-centric ballad that speeds up in the second half, a beautiful hybrid of her sounds from “drivers license” and “good 4 u.” The second single from the album, the punk-centric “Bad Idea Right?", was released on August 11. The official music videos for both singles were directed by Rodrigo's frequent collaborator, visual artist Petra Collins.
Related: Olivia Rodrigo Had to Fight to Keep “Fame F***er” Line in “Vampire”
On July 31, Rodrigo posted a mysterious teaser video to social media that involved her moving around a purple bedroom and going at it on a typewriter with a rock song playing in the background. 24 hours later on August 1, a little more than a month before the album's release, Rodrigo posted another video that revealed the entire Guts track list.
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In the video, Rodrigo wears the already-iconic G-U-T-S rings, a purple band-aid, and soda can rollers in her hair that read “B*tch, Made in America." She signs envelopes with the return address “Olivia R., 258 Get Him Back Drive, Los Angeles, C.A.,” and peruses a bookshelf with fictional spines that read, How to Mother Your Boyfriend, How to Always Pick the Wrong One, Why Waiting on the Phone for Him Works, Manifesting a Text Back, and Love Is Embarrassing, which ends up being her pick.
The video ends with Rodrigo taking her finished track list out of the typewriter's carriage. Below, check out the full track list for Guts:
- All American B*tch
- Bad Idea Right?
- Vampire
- Lacy
- Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl
- Making the Bed
- Logical
- Get Him Back
- Love is Embarrassing
- The Grudge
- Pretty Isn't Pretty
- Teenage Dream
What else do we need to know about the Guts era?
Aesthetically, Rodrigo seems to be sticking to the lilac and black color theme established during her Sour rollout. In the promo pic for Guts, she lays on a dark purple background in a black tank top and lilac bra with the word “GUTS” spelled out in rings on every finger. She wears a sharp cat eye, red lip, and a chipped black manicure.
Musically, the album was mostly written during a pivotal year in Rodrigo's life, much like its predecessor. As mentioned above, she recorded Guts with Dan Nigro, who also produced Sour. “I made the bulk of this album during my 19th year on this earth, a year that, for me, was filled with lots of confusion, mistakes, awkwardness and good old-fashioned teen angst,” Rodrigo wrote in a note to fans. “I cannot express how excited I am to embark on this new chapter of my life with you guys.”
