Olivia Rodrigo dropped the lead single from her upcoming sophomore album ‘Guts’, ‘Vampire’, today alongside an atmospheric music video.
‘Vampire’ sees Rodrigo once again teaming up with her ‘sour’ partner Dan Nigro. The song began as a piano ballad before the instrumentals built and rock influences entered. Like the songs on her debut album, ‘Vampire’ is about Rodrigo kissing her ex-boyfriend so badly.
Speaking about the song, Rodrigo recalls: ‘I was upset at a certain point and I went to the studio alone and sat at the grand piano, and the melodies, the melodies and the lyrics came out of me as an almost-bodily experience.’ “It’s a song about confusion and hurt, and I thought it was originally meant to be a piano ballad. But when Daniel and I started working, we kept the lyrics going with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now you can dance like a heartbreak song.’
The music video was directed by Petra Collins and sees Rodrigo performing ‘Vampire’ on stage at an awards ceremony when the lighting rig falls and injures him. She tries to continue her performance but security tries to pull her off the stage and the chase ends in a dramatic way.
‘Guts’ is the follow-up to Rodrigo’s 2021 debut album ‘Sour’, which was certified 4x Platinum in the US and 2x Platinum in the UK. The set topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and spawned the hit singles ‘Licence to Drive’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘Good 4 u’ and ‘Traitor’.
Written in part at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York City, ‘Guts’ was mostly live at Negro Garage Studios in Los Angeles. Although each song reinforces the emotional fidelity that has always enveloped her tales, the album finally finds Rodrigo expanding her expressive palette and revealing entirely new facets of her artistry.
“When I was making ‘Gomzaza’, I was very new to the process and I was very heartbroken. Rodrigo I would sit at the piano for hours and be overwhelmed by what I needed to express. But this album was about focusing on the craft of songwriting, which sometimes meant not taking myself too seriously and getting a little tongue-in-cheek with my lyrics. We ended up experimenting a lot with different styles and ended up with something that had more of a rock influence than anything I’d done before.
‘Guts’ along with ‘Vampire’ can be ordered at Rodrigo’s official store https://shopuk.oliviarodrigo.com.
