Olivia Rodrigo has admitted she felt “so much pressure” while making her second album, Guts.
The 23-year-old has reflected on the different levels of pressure she experienced before releasing each of her albums, explaining that expectations for Guts were very different following the success of her 2021 debut record, Sour.
During a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, Olivia admitted there was less pressure surrounding Sour because everything happened so quickly.
“We didn’t have time for revisions on Sour,” she said. “The whole world was watching. I wrote and we just f**king recorded and put it out.”
She explained that creating 2023’s Guts was a far more intense experience because of the expectations that came with following up such a successful debut.
“Then with Guts, I was under so much pressure, like, ‘Oh my god, I’m never going to be able to make another good song,'” Olivia continued. “It wasn’t even making music to make music. It was making music to please people or prove something.”
The Good 4 U hitmaker is now preparing to release her third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, on 12 June.
Olivia noted that after the success of her first two albums, she now feels able to enjoy the creative process again.
“With this album, I actually was like, ‘I’m done with the sophomore one. Now I can have fun again,'” she told the publication. “I was writing songs the way I did when I was 16, purely for fun.”
The singer added, “There were some beautiful moments, like, ‘Whoa, it’s flowing out,’ which feels like catching a butterfly in a net.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Olivia explained that she has become far more self-assured since releasing Sour in 2021.
The Vampire singer added, “My passion and work ethic come from a place of positivity rather than a scared mindset.”
