Olivia Rodrigo‘s new album GUTS opens with delicately plucked acoustic guitar that eventually gives way to a roaring, crashing chorus. It’s that timeless quiet-loud-quiet alternative rock dynamic that never seems to go out of style. In a new interview, Rodrigo gives props to a band who helped her dig into that sound.
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“I have been listening to so much Rage Against the Machine this year,” she told Rolling Stone in a new cover story out today (September 12). “That’s my favorite band right now. I would just play it over and over again on my way to and from the studio.”
[RELATED: Olivia Rodrigo Feels Confident in Her Songwriting after ‘GUTS’]
Rodrigo (sadly) doesn’t spit verses that speak truth to power the way Zach de la Rocha does, but the sonic influence of Tom Morello’s guitar and the sheer force of the band’s rhythm section (Tim C and Brad Wilk) is certainly there on her album opener “All-American Bitch.”
As the new cover story notes, another influence of Rodrigo’s while adding the loud choruses on her album was Midwestern band Babes in Toyland. She’d often wake up in the morning while growing up to her mother playing the group’s second album, Fontanelle. “Rock in that feminine way, that’s just the coolest thing in the world to me,” Rodrigo said.
GUTS is indeed packed with loud choruses indebted just as much to 2000s pop-punk as well. The Hayley Williams influence remains strong as ever, but Rodrigo and her chief collaborator Dan Nigro have added other pop elements as well. Katy Perry even offered to be Rodrigo’s mentor.
“The first time I met her, I put my hands on her shoulders and was like, ‘Listen, I’m here. Whatever you need,’” Perry recalled in the piece. “Because I know exactly what these pop girlies are going through, and when I was growing up, no one really did that for me.”
Rodrigo also mentioned a list of go-to wedding songs she’s trying to narrow down for when her eventually nuptials happen — that list includes “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young, Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” and Bright Eyes’ modern folk-pop classic “First Day of My Life.”
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One band not mentioned on the wedding list? Rage Against the Machine. But good on Rodrigo for being able to read the room. The ceremony she does want to attend with Rage, though, is their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, happening in November. As she told Rolling Stone, it’s not looking likely due to a scheduling conflict.
“I am literally going to cry myself to sleep about it,” Rodrigo said.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Universal Music Group for Brands
