Ok, here’s all the drama behind Olivia Rodrigo’s new album bonus tracks
If you thought Vampire was targeted…
The GUTS tour has been simply iconic: from making headlines for handing out free birth control to surprise releasing five bonus tracks Olivia has been working hard to maintain her title as Gen Z’s pop punk princess.
She released the exciting news about GUTS (spilled) to her adoring fans at the United Center in Chicago whilst performing get him back! As with any Rodrigo music, fans have been scrupulously searching the lyrics to work out who these songs could be about so grab your Sherlock cap and let’s get investigating:
obsessed
“I’m so obsessed with your ex / I know she’s been asleep on my side of your bed…”
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Olivia has been singing obsessed throughout the tour, and it had built up quite the following on TikTok for its relatable lyrics. The person she is obsessed with is not a new crush but in fact… her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend! This embarrassing but unfortunately relatable song is rumoured to be about Outer Banks’ star Madelyn Cline. The blonde beauty who shot to fame for playing Sarah Cameron dated Zack Bia who Olivia reportedly dated shortly after they broke up in 2022.
The lyrics detail the gut-wrenching (pardon the pun) feeling when you scroll just a little too far back in your boyfriend’s ex’s instagram until you start feeling like you know more about her than he does… The lyric which has made eagle eyed fans certain it is about Cline is “I’ve seen every movie she’s been in, and, oh God, she’s beautiful.”
girl i’ve always been
“I get down with crooked men / But I am the girl I’ve always been”
Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour in St. Louis handed out free Plan B pills to fans who wanted them, from the Missouri Abortion Fund. pic.twitter.com/RM085eYHTs
— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 13, 2024
girl i’ve always been is an introspective song about growing up and people criticising you for changing. The song doesn’t feel targeted to a particular individual but could perhaps be about some of her fans, or rather, her fans’ parents. Having shot to fame on Disney Channel, a lot of her fanbase is quite young and therefore she has received some criticism as she is now a 21-year-old and leaning towards a more mature style.
It is a tale as old as time, à la Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, when a pop star who rose to fame on a kids TV show tries to diversify their music and is met with anger from fans. The most notable incident was when she handed out contraceptives in Missouri where abortion is banned. Also a percentage of profits from Rodrigo’s tour, partnered with the National Network of Abortion Funds, will go towards her campaign Fund 4 Good.
In response to the contraceptives being handed out, Republican Missouri state senator Bill Eigel posted on X that “As the father of a daughter, I am horrified by this.”
“Many of her fans are CHILDREN.”
scared of my guitar
“So I’ll lay in your arms and pretend that it’s love…”
This song is a little more ambiguous with the lyrics relating to a feeling of being confused in your relationship. It describes being treated well, but still feeling like there could be someone better out there for you. Despite fans always analysing Olivia’s lyrics and finding subtle hints, she said to The Guardian in 2023 that “I never want to say who my songs are about… I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t.”
I guess we can just all take this one as her revealing how music is her way to figure out her emotions, at least we know she doesn’t lie in her songs!
strange
“Said it was raining but the sun’s out / you said you loved me, you’re with her now”
This track is about when a relationship ends and your ex moves on a little too quickly for your liking. There hasn’t been much internet digging into these lyrics but we reckon its about Sabrina Carpenter, the rumoured muse for drivers licence. Joshua Bassett, Olivia’s co-star in the High School Musical TV series, supposedly cheated on Olivia with Sabrina. The two were good friends throughout Bassett and Rodrigo’s short lived romance and were seen together shortly after the couple split. Lines such as “I know that you met her when you were with me / You said I had doubts and you said I was / Crazy, baby” do add up to the Sabrina theory.
so american
“And he says I’m so American / Oh God, I’m gonna marry him if he keeps this shit up…”
so american is Rodrigo’s first love song and let’s just say we are HERE FOR IT! This is the final song on the track list and the only one not to have been released prior, it is rumoured to be about her new British Beau Louis Partridge who she has been linked to since October 2023. Patridge is a 20-year-old actor from London, famous for the Netflix film series Enola Holmes.
Lyrics such as “Drivin’ on the right-side road / He says I’m pretty wearin’ his clothes” imply he is getting used to driving on the American side of the road as he joins her on her big tour! As the opening track of GUTS is all-american bitch, Olivia has not let her artistry slip with this cyclical ending to her second album.
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Featured image credit via Instagram