Olivia Rodrigo struggled to start writing her new album Guts because she was paralyzed by “fear and doubt”.
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The singer of “Drivers License» admitted in an interview with The Guardian that the songs on her second album didn’t come as easily to her as before, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to match the success of her 2021 debut Sour». “There were many months where I would sit at the piano and all I could think about was how I would never do anything as good as before, or all the mean things people would say on Twitter, or the fact that it wasn’t me. “I’m not going to do anything as good as… whatever,” she shared.
She began working on her album with Dan Nigro last August, and they decided to work again in their converted garage studio rather than in a new environment. “Adding a new studio would have created more fears and doubts. Like, ‘Oh my God, we’re spending thousands of dollars and I feel like I’m not writing anything good…’ That’s the opposite of creativity,” she said, revealing that some days she would go to see Dan Nigro Studio and cry at the end.
However, the duo hired new co-writers to bring new ideas to their creative process and because the 20-year-old singer wanted to learn from other musicians.
She revealed that advice from Jack White, who encouraged her to write the songs she wanted to hear on the radio, stimulated her creativity. “I’ve been going through a really hard time but I don’t know why, when I read this I thought, ‘Oh my God!’ That’s exactly what I have to do,” she remembers.
“Guts” was released on Friday.