I hate your F**KING GUTS!
Where does GUTS come from? Why Guts?
Just one of the many questions I had after last night’s cherry popping Olivia Rodrigo show. Who you ask? Yes, that’s exactly what I said. My two daughters were quick to give me far more detail than my closed ears wanted to hear. Like a good Mum I bought the tickets, gathered up some girlfriends and their equally excited tweens and we went the whole shebang and ventured forth to Purple Guts Land.
The first thing we noticed (after our amazing Asian Fusion dinner – have to make a night of it and tweens these days know food!) – was the abundance of sequins in the audience - second only to Tay Tay (ok maybe third after Mardi Gras). Lucky my daughter’s friend has an older sister who has the 911 on pop culture and lent my tween a pink sparkly number. I definitely wasn’t expecting the sequins – all I’d heard was that Liv was this generation's grunge icon (if these kids call her grunge, they need some serious Kurt Cobain education and fast). That she was angsty and edgy and the voice of Generation Z. That she encouraged girls to stand up for themselves and be authentic. She seems to do this with an awful lot of F bombs.
So, just to use the kid’s vernacular, I will reluctantly accept that the style was grunge x sparkles with a touch of girl power (her signature colour is purple - also the colour of feminine empowerment, which I don’t think is a coincidence). The crowd, who I expected to be angsty, were intense but the vibe was positive. Where Tay Tay bred unicorn vibes, this vibe was more empowered girl in her moment (I can connect with that). I was fascinated watching the crowd and the feeling the energy.
Just as a side note we had been in the vicinity of the concert the day before for a sporting activity and had chatted to some girls who were camping out for five days prior to the show to ensure they could get right to the front with their GA tickets. That’s the sort of devotion this young lady inspires.
We settled into our excellent seats (grateful, very grateful) and the support act was mid assault. I’m sorry, my older daughter told me to be nice, but she was shit and I was looking for ear plugs and an escape route. Tweens one, two and three were delighted by the quick offer for ice creams while I escaped.
Then the show began. There were a whole lot of quirks which my older, grown-up daughter (who is much more ofay with pop culture than me explained) including GUTS spelt out with candles which when burnt out indicated the show was starting. It took me about ten minutes to work out it was a projection (seriously – so vivid!). Then the show started with a bang.
She was so not what I expected! Tiny, exquisitely beautiful, very delicate features, perfect nails, beauty pageant like long flowing locks, sequins. Umm – grunge, edgy? What is wrong with these kids? A pair of doc martens an edge does not make. This was a Disney princess not a grunge icon. Confusion reigned. Then she belted out some lyrics with Alanis Morrisette like intensity and bounced on the stage with Green Day like fervour and I thought ok Disney x Rock Chick.
I get that I don’t need to be put labels on people and the most interesting people cross genres and oceans, but this young woman is indefinable. The more the show went on, the less I was able to define her.
She is definitely talented. She is extraordinary at conveying her voice and her lyrics clearly (and loudly) resonated with her people. The crowd was so bloody loud at times you couldn’t even hear her. She plays the guitar like a beast, and she moves like the ultimate rock chick. (I did google her afterwards and she grew up listening to Pearl Jam and Green Day thanks to her cool parents – those influences I totally get). She is angsty and edgy in a lot of her songs but clearly, they were moments in time because when she spoke, she was part Pageant Queen and part Disney Princess. Beautiful smile and encouraging words to the crowd i.e. “When I was 19, I wrote this song because I was so terrified of growing up and now, I’m 21, I realise how great life is and every birthday things get better” then she would drop an incidental “Mother Fucker” and I would be confused again.
If she is the voice of this generation, then they are a very confusing generation with a variety of mood swings (probably not news to any parents of tweens reading this), but they are authentic. They stand in their own power, and they own their own stories. Definitely attributes I want for my daughters.
The show was really good. Enough theatrics to make everyone happy but with artistic integrity. She had an all-girl crew on stage which was a nice touch. The audience were in the palm of her hand and despite a little too much gratuitous swearing (it grated when it was in conversation) she has some great role model qualities for young girls – top of the list was owning your voice and standing up for yourself.
She is really fascinating, and I found I needed a good google search to make sense of what I saw. Her story is interesting, and the Pageant/Disney/Rock Chick/Angst Queen does make sense in context. The Grunge bit does not. Sorry kids, Kurt Cobain she is not. Definitely a worthy performer though and our tweens were just besides themselves. Enjoy that vegemite, Olivia!
BTW – GUTS is apparently – Have the Guts to do this! As in Guts and Glory. I’m on board with that!
