LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� On Friday, 鈥� the Grammy winner best known for her 2021 鈥� released her highly anticipated sophomore album,
It's an apt title, because audacious she is: Across 12 tracks, Rodrigo builds off the life experiences of a pop superstar now in the throes of fame 鈥� and her early 20s 鈥� with an acute wisdom.
From the bloodsucking piano ballad to the cheeky backslide anthem (Rodrigo has kept the all-lowercase titles that styled her debut), 鈥淕UTS鈥� is at times a pop-punk album unafraid of taking dynamic swings, and a diaristic bloodletting.
But those lead singles hid greater moments: opener 鈥渁ll-american bitch,鈥� inspired by a cast-off quote from a young hippie in 鈥淭he White Album鈥� , is pop-punk informed by Liz Phair or, like, the most obscure Rose Melberg record. Irony and anger are her swords: 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful all the time / I鈥檓 sexy and I鈥檓 kind / I鈥檓 pretty when I cry,鈥� she sings.
鈥減retty isn't pretty鈥� recalls The Cure's dreamy guitar tones, a cutting treatise on the price of impossible beauty standards.
It's easy to hear your favorite rock bands represented here, but in a style completely Rodrigo's own: punctuates 鈥渂allad of a homeschooled girl,鈥� with lyrics that could double as a AOL away message. Pick your favorite: 鈥淪械archin鈥� 鈥榟ow to start a conversation?鈥� on a website (How to flirt?)鈥�, or 鈥淭hought your mom was your wife / Called you the wrong name twice / Can鈥檛 think of a third line.鈥�
鈥渢he grudge鈥� is born from 鈥渄rivers license鈥� 鈥� a courageous piano power ballad. Where whisper-singing has become the foundation for many contemporary young pop stars, whose biggest singles consequently feel restrained, Rodrigo's performance is pushed to the limits. Rage and disappointment will do that to you: They're perhaps pop's most underutilized tools 鈥� and rock's greatest asset.
At the top of her debut album, Rodrigo asked 鈥淚鈥檓 so sick of 17 / Where鈥檚 my f鈥�-ing teenage dream?鈥� in 鈥渂rutal.鈥� On 鈥淕UTS鈥� she answers it in the closer 鈥渢eenage dream鈥�: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry that I couldn鈥檛 always be your teenage dream,鈥� she sings, the same woman who made getting her driver's license a pop music concern for the world. Could adolescence be more damning?
Long has Rodrigo has been compared to her musical antecedent Taylor Swift, but the points of evidence on 鈥淕UTS鈥� are few and far between 鈥� and in the album's weakest moments, like 鈥済et him back!鈥�, still far superior to a lesser artist's greatest uptempo track. (Special mention goes to the lyric 鈥淚 wanna meet your mom, just to tell her her son sucks." Has devastation ever been so funny?)
鈥淔or me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life,鈥� Rodrigo said in a press release when the album was first announced. 鈥淚 feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20 鈥� it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that鈥檚 all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully the album reflects that.鈥�
The musician once again teamed up with her close collaborator Dan Nigro, who produced "SOUR,鈥� her first album that was a multiplatinum debut that won Rodrigo three Grammy Awards and made her the youngest solo artist ever to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Few forces are more potent than a young creative woman's dissatisfaction 鈥� only, of course, if she chooses to wield it. For Rodrigo, it was never a question. She'll just punctuate it with a laugh.
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
