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The Amplifier: A deep dive into Olivia Rodrigo’s triumphant ‘Guts’

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In May 2021, Olivia Rodrigo, then 18 years old, released her debut album, “Sour.” Earlier that year, the singer-songwriter had become an overnight sensation with her heart-tugging, piano-driven ballad “Drivers License,” but “Sour” proved that there was so much more to her than that: She could also pull off dreamy alt-rock (“Deja Vu”), spiky pop-punk (“Good 4 U”) and sharp social commentary (“Jealousy, Jealousy”). In a review I wrote at the time, I noted that “Rodrigo’s songs have lived-in details to spare, as though she had all this time been assembling a detailed dossier on the emotional minutiae of the teenage experience.” “Sour” felt as if it were signaling the sudden arrival of a major talent — and those are often the trickiest albums to follow up. As the Amplifier’s very own editor, Caryn Ganz, wrote in a recent profile of Rodrigo, “crafting the follow-up to a smash debut is music’s most daunting crucible, and Rodrigo felt the pressure to make a diamond.” Rodrigo’s sophomore album

The Amplifier: The last song that made me cry and 4 other recommendations 96 Listen to tracks from Phoebe Bridgers, Kelela, L7 and more. View in browser | nytimes.com July 21, 2026 The last song that made me cry, and 4 other recommendations 5 songs, 16 min 14 sec By Lindsay Zoladz Phoebe Bridgers Todd Owyoung/NBC, via Getty Images) Dear listeners, What did you listen to after Spain won the World Cup on Sunday? Rosalía ’s “Despechá,” as I suggested in last week’s newsletter ? Or perhaps, if the results of the match weren’t to your liking, a tearful rendition of La Mosca Tsé-Tsé ’s “Muchachos,”

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