Hype is available in many types, maximum of them despicable, however the buzz that preceded Olivia Rodrigo’s new unmarried used to be the quite wholesome kind. In 2021, the then-teenage Disney actor conquered the Billboard Sizzling 100 with now not only a recent face and a sensible advertising marketing campaign, however a way of musical chance, hinting that business pop nonetheless had new instructions to adapt in. Chatty lyrics and breathy making a song outlined her debut album, Bitter, however her hit singles—particularly “Driving force’s License,” “Excellent 4 U,” “Deja Vu,” and “Brutal”—had been eclectic. The listening public, because it became out, may just maintain a celeb who careened from piano balladry to emo to experimental pop or even laborious rock. So during the last two years, as she labored on her 2d album, interest fixed: The place would she move subsequent?

After all, many promising new voices ahead of her have made compromises with a view to keep within the highlight after they’ve attained it. Her new tune may have been a rehash of certainly one of her hits, or it will have appropriated some trending sound (how lengthy ahead of we get Disney drill?). However thankfully, she opted to take a look at to reside as much as the name of her imminent album, Guts. Her first unmarried in two years, “Vampire,” pushes her confessional-pop enchantment to a scorching excessive, and also you’d must be undead not to really feel a bit of pleasure.

The observe is piano rock, tapping into a convention of theatrical angst that leashes wild emotions to the tight, tidy jabbing of keys. That is more likely to be divisive: Rodrigo and her manufacturer, Dan Nigro, channel her prior to now said inspirations (Fiona Apple, Billy Joel), but additionally some sudden, and daringly corny, artists (Muse, Mika). As on a lot of Bitter, Rodrigo’s melody is made up of brief words that stack like Legos. She additionally nonetheless sings in that unusual accessory that singer-songwriters have hired for years now—events are “pourties”; torture is “tuh-hor-ture”—to construct drama.

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However the spark of the tune comes from the best way its easy components layer into crushing heaviness. The more-than-a-minute-long intro is gradual in an illusory method; Rodrigo’s vocal itself assists in keeping a brisk pace, which the tune’s collecting percussion later underlines. The best way that the association falls to silence across the large declaration of the refrain—“bloodsucker / status fucker”—is an previous trick, however the jackhammering guitar that comes proper after is a surprise, a chaser stronger than the shot. The most productive second is within the bridge, when Rodrigo’s rambling cadence slides right into a Freddy Mercury–like wail, which stretches and modulates for a beat or two longer than turns out herbal. The feeling is that of the gravity below you converting once more, once more, and once more.

Rodrigo is venting in regards to the trusty matter of heartbreak, with relatively explicit information about an older guy who used her for her clout over the process a six-month courting. As together with her breakout hit, “Driving force’s License,” a social-media feeding frenzy is more likely to end result from listeners speculating in regards to the real-life inspiration for this story. However what punches thru is harm and fury conveyed by means of strains reminiscent of “I used to suppose I used to be good / However you made me glance so naive.” We’ve all felt that method ahead of—how will Rodrigo make it sound subsequent?