MY TOP THREE “GUTS” SONGS AS BOOK CHARACTERS

If you’re anything like me, you had September 8 marked on your calendar all summer! Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album, “GUTS,” released that Friday, and of course, I listened to it immediately.

When I listen to music, my mind unintentionally thinks about different books I’ve read and relates the songs to a specific character or couple. So, naturally, I did that with “GUTS” and noticed a bunch of similarities between her lyrics and some of my favorite book characters.

“MAKING THE BED“

Starting with my favorite song from the new album, Rodrigo had to have known what she was doing to the teens in their 20’s with this one.

Making the bed touches on past decisions Rodrigo has made and some regrets she may have about it all. This song holds the number one spot for me, possibly because I have a feeling she wrote it about me, but also because it embodies Lizzie Young from the “Boys of Tommen” series by Chloe Walsh flawlessly. 

Although Lizzie Young is a side character that doesn’t have her own book out yet, the author shares a lot about her in the books that are out. Lizzie is seen as this fierce, sharp-tongued girl who doesn’t deal with difficulty from anyone, but deep down she’s struggling to hold it together after the death of her sister. She struggles with her depression throughout the series and is misunderstood as cold because that’s the front she puts up. 

When Rodrigo says, “sometimes I feel like I don’t wanna be where I am,” and “push away all the people who know me the best,” I have a feeling she had Lizzie in mind. As Lizzie goes through such a hard time, she begins to slowly push away her two closest friends and tries to deal with her issues on her own. 

When Lizzie was a kid, she was all smiles and just as cheerful as her sunshine friend, Claire. After she goes through traumatic events because of the death of her sister, though, she struggles to find happiness in anything. Rodrigo writes “Another thing I ruined I used to do for fun,” and as Lizzie has lost interest in anything positive, this speaks to her. 

Honorary lyric mentions that I personally believe were taken from Lizzie Young’s diary. 

• “I’m playin’ the victim so well in my head.” 
• “I tell someone i love them just as a distraction.”

“ALL-AMERICAN BITCH“

The first track of the album has a pop-rock vibe that I absolutely adore. My first listen of the song had me thinking about a character from one of my favorite books, “Hothouse Flower” by Krista and Becca Ritchie.

The main character, Daisy Calloway is known throughout the series as being a living embodiment of the sun. Daisy is a very happy, energetic and optimistic girl. As Rodrigo says in verse one, “I’ve got sun in my motherfuckin’ pocket, best believe,” of course I thought of the most sunshine character to exist. 

Daisy Calloway is a high fashion model, starting her career early on when she was only 11 years old. However, she is also the youngest of her three sisters, which shows in her fun and playful personality.

Rodrigo has a line in the chorus that says, “Forgive and I forget I know my age and I act like it.” This speaks to Daisy a lot because despite all the rules she has to follow due to her career in the spotlight, she knows she’s still young and doesn’t take life too seriously. 

Honorary lyric mentions to describe Daisy. 

• “I scream inside to deal with it.”
• “All the time I’m grateful all the time I’m sexy and I’m kind I’m pretty when I cry.”

“VAMPIRE“

Although “Vampire” has been out a lot longer than the whole album, it still is one of my favorites. When I first listened to it, I thought of one of my favorite female book characters, Donatella Dragna from the “Caraval” series by Stephanie Garber. (I love this character so much I named my cat after her)

In “Vampire,” Rodrigo tells a story about being with an older guy who essentially took advantage of their relationship. For Donatella, she goes through something similar throughout the series with a guy named Jacks, who manipulated her countless times.

He would always lie and trick her for his own advantage, and Rodrigo captures this when she says, “You’re so convincing how do you lie without flinching.” 

As the story progresses, Donatella learns that Jacks is not human and his heart isn’t beating, and that it won’t until he finds his one true love. Rodrigo must have read this series, because there’s no way she wrote “You said it was true love, but wouldn’t that be hard you can’t love anything ‘cause that would mean you had a heart,” about anyone else.

Honorary lyric mentions that I know were written about Donatella. 

• “Bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire.”
• “What a mesmerizing, paralyzing, fucked up little thrill.”

These are just some of the numerous similarities I found between a couple of my favorite songs and book characters.

I really recommend reading these books if you like fantasy (“Caraval”) or romance (“Hothouse Flower” and “Boys of Tommen”). They have all the angst, heartbreak and characters that are the epitome of girlhood that Rodrigo spills her guts about.

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