Olivia Rodrigo Performs “Guts” at Intimate in Los Angeles – Billboard

Nigro said that he chose the lead single for Guts was “one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make together… once we chose it, trying to complete it (became) much more difficult.” Rodrigo added that it all came down to the smallest details, such as the number of beats per minute, estimating they did “20 versions of different BPMs” before finishing the song in January at New York’s Electric Lady Studios.

One day in New York, Nigro and Rodrigo went outside looking for inspiration. They ended up at a bookstore, where Nigro estimates he bought at least eight books, including Walk around your waist–High Water: Fleet Foxes Lyrics. Written by Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold, it consists of lyrics to 55 songs, many of which Nigro learned began as poems. It was a lightbulb moment for him and Rodrigo, as she had just taken a poetry course at the University of Southern California. It was there that she wrote a poem called “Lacy”, which she and Nigro eventually turned into an intimate track for the album of the same name.

One of the album’s most haunting tracks was the result of a series of unfortunate events. One day, while Rodrigo and Nigro were starting work, Nigro’s wife tested positive for COVID. Not wanting to be exposed, their nanny could no longer come to look after their five-month-old baby Saoirse. When Nigro explained her situation to Rodrigo, she had a simple solution: she would look after the children. Saoirse eventually joined their session, bouncing along to the beat of what eventually became “The Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl.” However, after she ate, Rodrigo bounced on the baby too much… and Saoirse ended up vomiting on her. “But the silver lining,” says Rodrigo, “was getting that song.”

Nigro said that he and Rodrigo argued about which songs would end up on the album. Guts, and that “The Grudge” was one of the few brought up for discussion. Rodrigo said they kept repeating the melody of one particular line that came to her mind while driving. She remembers listening to The Smiths on the way to the studio and feeling inspired by the words “It takes courage to be kind” from “I Know It’s Over.” Expressing her frustration at the time, she told the audience that she remembers thinking, “What if I don’t do this?” want

have the courage and not want be kind.” But that feeling ultimately inspired her own lyric, which she quickly typed into her Notes app at a red light: “It takes strength to forgive, but I don’t feel strong.”

In order to discuss Guts concluding the track, Rodrigo walked over to the piano on stage and sat next to Nigro. “Last time we did Sour, we ended on a Rhodes piano…” she said, explaining that they wanted to make it a little tradition. So, “Teenage Dream” is in the same vein as Sour closer “Hope Ur Ok” is an intimate moment in the album’s grand finale. (Nigro also noted that Saoirse was in the film, although she didn’t get enough credit, to which Rodrigo responded with a knowing laugh: “Uh-oh… there’s going to be some trouble there.”)

As mentioned, the word “hard work” often came up when Rodrigo and Nigro discussed creating Guts. So, naturally, it makes sense that the pair coined a term for their particularly bad studio days: The Dread. “I was definitely full of Horror that day,” Rodrigo said, recalling how she wrote “Get Him Back!” in NYC. Before heading into the studio, she and Nigro chatted with his father, who told them, “A lot of the best songs are written with only two chords.” According to Nigro: “We tried and failed, but we wrote something we really liked with three chords.” After the session, which ultimately proved successful, he and Rodrigo went to celebrate, but when she asked him to order her a glass of wine (she was only 19 at the time), Nigro refused. But that didn’t stop her from getting exactly what she wanted anyway: “We drank… And this song,” she said proudly.

Like “Resentment”. Gutsopening song “All-American Bitch” was another last-minute addition. Rodrigo said she has “always been obsessed” with the concept of being “light as a feather, stiff as a board” and said her mom told her stories about sleepovers in the ’80s when she and her friends would lift each other up using everything just one finger. . “(It was) the perfect way to bring to life the impossible standards of a girl and a woman,” Rodrigo said.

She wrote the song on piano and sent it to Nigro, who called her first audition a “holy moment.” “(We had) very fun fast songs with very serious songs,” he said. “As a producer, I was confused: ‘How do I put this together?’ When she sent me (“All-American Bitch”), I said, “That’s it—you just wrote the opening song for the album.”

Rodrigo ended the evening with a comeback, ending Sour

the standout song is “Traitor”, which she performed on the piano. She recalled writing the song on the floor of her Salt Lake City bedroom just days after her debut hit took over the Internet. “When Drivers License came out, I called Dan and said, ‘We need to make an album,’” she said. “I was just going to make an EP.”

Nigro said the call came just four days after “Drivers License” was released. Given that Rodrigo was soon filming in Salt Lake City, he collected studio equipment, rented an Airbnb and went there himself. He said because it was so cold they had to keep the heat on while they worked, something he has since regretted. Rodrigo’s first vocal on “Traitor” was so raw it couldn’t be topped—the only problem, Nigro says, is that he can hear the heat buzzing in the background. “Go home and listen,” Rodrigo advised viewers, insisting that to this day she can’t hear it herself.