[Source: BBC]

Olivia Rodrigo has broken the second album curse – with critics naming her messy, intimate, coming-of-age record Guts the best new release of 2023.

Packed with punk-pop anthems and barbed ballads, the album topped a “poll of polls” compiled by BBC News.

Rodrigo told the BBC it was a “happier” and “more playful” record than her debut, Sour, with a rockier sound inspired by her forthcoming tour.

“It’s such a cathartic experience to sing songs like that in a crowd.”

Released in September, Guts topped the UK and US charts, and has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, including album of the year.

Rolling Stone magazine called it “another instant classic”, while AllMusic called Rodrigo an “artist with plenty of things to say, and the confidence and eloquence to say them her way”.

While her debut was largely written about one disastrous relationship, Guts finds her discussing fame, pain, questionable hook-ups, self-sabotage, and stumbling into adulthood.

Vampire is about a parasitic boyfriend, All-American Bitch tackles the contradictory expectations imposed on women, while Get Him Back plays with the duality of the title phrase: Is Rodrigo trying to reunite with her ex, or take revenge on him? Why not both?

The production is loud and melodic and full of clever tricks (listen to how the backing vocals fragment when Rodrigo sings, “I can’t hear my thoughts”, on Bad Idea, Right?); while Rodrigo’s powerhouse voice captures all the seething sarcasm of a resentful teenager.

Guts was the most popular choice on 25 “end-of-year” lists surveyed by the BBC – including NME, Rolling Stone, the Times, Australia’s Double J and France’s Les Inrockuptibles magazine.

Records were assigned points based on their position in each list. The number one album received 20 points, the number two album received 19 points, and so on.

In total, the critics named 171 records among their favourites, from the champagne disco of Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! to the sensual R&B of Janelle Monaé’s The Age Of Pleasure.

Here are the albums that made the Top 10, along with a selection of reviews.

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