Olivia Rodrigo Reveals How Key ‘Guts’ Tracks Came Together During Intimate Los Angeles Show

Nigro mentioned selecting the lead single for Guts was “one of many hardest choices we’ve needed to make collectively…as soon as we selected it, attempting to complete it [became] that a lot tougher.” Rodrigo added that it got here all the way down to the smallest of particulars, just like the beats per minute, estimating they made “20 variations of various BPMs” earlier than ending the track in January at New York’s Electrical Girl Studios.

Someday in New York, Nigro and Rodrigo hit the streets in quest of inspiration. They ended up at a bookstore, the place Nigro estimates he purchased at the least eight books, together with Wading in Waist–Excessive Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes. Written by Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold, it consists of lyrics to 55 songs — a lot of which, Nigro discovered, began as poems. It was a lightbulb second for him and Rodrigo, as she had simply taken a poetry class at College of Southern California. It was there she wrote a poem known as “Lacy,” which she and Nigro finally become the intimate album observe of the identical title.

One of many album’s most woefully relatable tracks happened from a sequence of unlucky occasions. Someday when Rodrigo and Nigro had been set to work, Nigro’s spouse examined constructive for COVID. Not eager to get uncovered, their nanny may not come watch their then five-month previous child Saoirse. As Nigro was explaining his state of affairs to Rodrigo, she had a easy answer: she would babysit. Saoirse ended up becoming a member of their session, bouncing to the beat of what finally grew to become “Ballad Of a Homeschooled Woman.” Nonetheless, after she had eaten, Rodrigo bounced the child a bit an excessive amount of… and Saoirse ended up puking throughout her. “However the silver lining,” says Rodrigo, “was getting this track out of it.”

Nigro shared that he and Rodrigo fought over what songs would make it onto Guts, and that “The Grudge” was one of many few up for debate. Rodrigo mentioned they stored going backwards and forwards on the melody for one specific line that got here to her whereas driving. As she recalled, she was listening to The Smiths on the way in which to the studio and felt impressed by the lyric, “it takes braveness to be variety” from “I Know It’s Over.” Channelling her frustration on the time, she informed the viewers she remembered considering, “What if I don’t need to have braveness and don’t need to be variety.” However finally, the sentiment impressed her personal lyric, which she shortly typed into her Notes app at a purple gentle: “It takes power to forgive, however I don’t really feel sturdy.”

To debate the Guts closing observe, Rodrigo sauntered over to the piano on stage, taking a seat subsequent to Nigro. “Final time we made Bitter, we ended on a Rhodes piano…” she mentioned, explaining that they wished to make it a little bit custom. And so, “Teenage Dream” is in the identical key as Bitter nearer “Hope Ur Okay” — making a second of intimate familiarity for the album’s grand finale. (Nigro additionally famous that Saoirse is featured on this one, although didn’t get credit score — to which Rodrigo replied with a realizing chuckle, “Uh oh… there’s gonna be some points there.”)

As talked about, the phrase “toil” usually got here up when Rodrigo and Nigro had been discussing the making of Guts. So naturally, it is sensible that the pair coined a time period for his or her notably dangerous studio days: The Dread. “On at the present time, I used to be positively stuffed with The Dread,” mentioned Rodrigo, recalling when she wrote “Get Him Again!” in New York. Previous to heading into the studio, she and Nigro had been chatting along with his dad, who informed them, “Loads of the most effective songs are written with two chords solely.” In keeping with Nigro, “We tried and failed — however wrote one thing we actually appreciated with three chords.” After what finally grew to become a profitable session, he and Rodrigo went out to have fun — however when she requested him to order her a glass of wine (she herself was solely 19 on the time) Nigro refused. However that didn’t cease her from getting precisely what she wished anyway: “We bought a drink — and this track,” she mentioned proudly.

Like “The Grudge,” Guts‘ opener “All-American Bitch” was one other final minute addition. Rodrigo mentioned she was “all the time obsessed” with the idea of “gentle as a feather, stiff as a board,” saying her mother would inform her tales about sleepovers within the 80s the place she and her associates would raise one another up utilizing only one finger. “[It was the] excellent method to encapsulate unimaginable requirements as a lady and girl,” mentioned Rodrigo.

She wrote the track on piano and despatched it to Nigro, who known as his first hear a “holy s–t” second. “[We had] tremendous enjoyable uptempo songs with tremendous severe songs,” he mentioned. “I used to be confused as a producer, ‘How do I bridge this collectively?’ When she despatched me [“All-American Bitch] I used to be like, ‘That is it — you simply wrote the opening track for the document.’”

Rodrigo ended the evening with a throwback, closing with Bitter standout “Traitor,” which she carried out on piano. She recalled writing the track on her bed room ground in Salt Lake Metropolis simply days after her debut hit took over the Web. “When ‘Drivers License’ got here out I known as Dan and was like, ‘We gotta make an album,’” she mentioned. “I used to be simply going to make an EP.”

Nigro mentioned that decision got here simply 4 days after “Drivers License” was launched. On condition that Rodrigo was filming in Salt Lake for the rapid future, he packed up his studio gear, rented an Airbnb and headed there himself. He mentioned that as a result of it was so chilly, they needed to hold the warmth on whereas working — one thing he has since come to remorse. Rodrigo’s first vocal take of “Traitor” ended up being so uncooked that it couldn’t be topped — the one difficulty, in response to Nigro, is that he can hear the heater whirring within the background. “Go house and hear,” Rodrigo instructed the viewers, insisting that to at the present time, she will be able to’t hear it herself.