Olivia Rodrigo has shared the first single off her anticipated sophomore album GUTS, "vampire." The song goes through a handful of changes, starting in piano ballad territory, until thumping kickdrums come in, and then an explosive coda. It was produced and co-written with former As Tall As Lions vocalist Dan Nigro, who also did all of SOUR with Olivia, and she says:
I was upset about a certain situation and went to the studio alone and sat down at the grand piano, and the chords and melody and lyrics just poured out of me — almost like an out-of-body experience. It’s a song about feeling confused and hurt, and at first I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad. But when Dan and I started working on it, we juxtaposed the lyrics with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now it’s like a heartbreak song you can dance to.
"vampire" also comes with a video directed by Petra Collins that takes place at a haunted awards ceremony. Check it out below.
"When I was making SOUR I was so new to the process and also so heartbroken; I’d just sit at the piano for hours and feel overcome with things I needed to express," Olivia says, speaking about the new album overall. "But this album was much more about focusing on the craft of songwriting, which sometimes meant not taking myself so seriously and getting a little more tongue-in-cheek with my lyrics. We experimented so much with different approaches to writing and ended up with something that’s much more rock-influenced than anything I’ve done before."
GUTS is due 9/8 via Geffen.
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