Before finalizing the ‘Guts’ tracklist, Olivia Rodrigo reportedly wrote about 150 songs
Still from the “Vampire” music video
While the release of her lead single “Vampire” has kept us preoccupied, the wait for three-time Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” album is getting a little daunting—especially when cool facts about its process pop up from time to time before its arrival on Sept. 8.
The latest one proves how dedicated the Filipino-American singer-songwriter is toward her craft. In an interview with host Michael Bennett on the radio show Most Requested Live, Rodrigo was probed about her journey in putting together her second full-length album.
In finalizing a record, of course, there are brainchildren that don’t make the cut, and they often hold interesting stories. So, Bennett had to ask: “How many songs do you think you wrote for this album?”
“I’m definitely like a ‘strength in numbers’ songwriter. I feel like I write so much, and just a fraction of them are any good,” Rodrigo answered. “I probably wrote like… myself, probably like 100 or 150 songs for it. Just because I love writing and most of them are just terrible. I feel like we recorded probably like 20 and narrowed them down to 12.”
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Olivia Rodrigo’s epic songwriting process
How Rodrigo shared that bit reeks so much Gen Z energy because 1.) She sounded a bit self-deprecating despite being in an obviously stellar position; 2.) She further shared that her Notes app and “little voice notes” on her phone are her best friends when it comes to songwriting.
The 20-year-old artist also admits to trying to write even if she’s not exactly in “inspired” mode since she believes that the best things can come out of those moments. This mindset is a bit reminiscent of her chat with Drew Barrymore last year, where they tackled the tricky entity that is boredom.
“Sometimes, I think boredom is a catalyst for a bunch of creative things,” Rodrigo said. In that episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” the young pop star also confessed to letting herself “fool around” with the piano despite having no specific idea in her head.
Well, the full-fledged snapshot of the songwriter’s headspace in her “Guts” era remains a mystery, with the current tracklist still unveiled. But we’re starting to get an initial impression through her choice of title.
In an interview with Apple Music, Rodrigo revealed that the name “Guts” has been in her head since the making of “Sour,” her smash hit debut. “I like, had it in my head, four letters, all caps, just like Sour, I love it. I just think it’s an interesting word.”
She added, “People use it in so many interesting contexts like, ‘Spill your guts.” ‘Hate your guts,’ I think is a really interesting term. It means bravery, but it also means intuition, like ‘listen to your gut.’ I just think it’s all of these things that coincidentally were things that I’ve been thinking about in this chapter.”
If “Sour” played like a morose diary of our teenage heartbreaks, woes, and frustrations, would “Guts” exude more angst and maturity—or even let us listen to some of Rodrigo’s unreleased gems?
