With her highly anticipated sophomore album, GUTS, set to arrive in just two weeks, singer Olivia Rodrigo is looking back on some of the writing advice she received during the record’s creation.
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Speaking with The New York Times in a new interview leading up to the release of GUTS on September 8, Olivia shares some wise, and complimentary words given by a few fellow artists and mentors -- a Detroit rocker, an Alt-pop goddess, and a Punk icon -- while in the process of putting together her second full-length release.
When struggling with the pressure of following up her massive debut, SOUR, Rodrigo says she remembered the words of Jack White, formerly of Detroit's The White Stripes and now a full-fledged member of the record-making aristocracy, who wrote her a letter the first time they met saying, "'Your only job is to write music that you would want to hear on the radio,’” she explained.
Solid advice, as Olivia's already admitted to penning over 100 songs when creating her new record. Rodrigo adds in the interview, “I mean, writing songs that you would like to hear on the radio is in fact very hard.”
LISTEN NOW: Olivia Rodrigo on what inspired her upcoming album ‘GUTS’
Another musician whom Olivia considers a mentor is Alt-pop singer and songwriter Annie Clark, otherwise known as St. Vincent, who told the NY Times in the same interview, “I’ve never met anyone so young and so effortlessly self-possessed. [Rodrigo] knows who she is and what she wants — and doesn’t seem to be in any way afraid of voicing that. And just a really lovely girl too.”
Riot grrrl punk icon Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill also added to the conversation, saying shes thrilled to see the "underground musical style" she helped create "being graphically referenced in the mainstream by a person who’s actually a music lover.” Hanna adds, "It’s a fascinating thing to watch these young women, and especially Olivia, because she seems to be so advanced as a songwriter, expressing themselves in these really complicated ways.” Check out the full cover story right HERE.
GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo's forthcoming follow-up to her GRAMMY-winning debut SOUR is set for release on September 8. Pre-orders are available NOW.
Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tracklist:
all american bitch
bad idea right?
vampire
lacy
ballad of a homeschool girl
making the bed
logical
get him back
love is embarrassing
the grudge
pretty isn’t pretty
teenage dream
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