The biggest challenge for any musical artist is the sophomore record after a brilliant freshman outing. The first record is made in relative anonymity with a lifetime of creative efforts to draw on: its follow up is made in less contemplative conditions, with the world watching and a whole lot less time. More than a few acts have faltered.

Those acts weren’t Olivia Rodrigo.

I, to my surprise and a little bit of dismay, enjoyed her first album. But I love “GUTS”: it just feels like a massive leap forward in figuring out who she is, which right now feels like a way smarter less scruffy updating of Avril Lavigne for the influencer generation. I don’t really care if a lot of this is derivative, as others have suggested. That just makes her part of a line of great repurposers, and since I don’t know most of the artists she’s borrowing from, Olivia can be my gateway drug.

The ballads are fine (except the closer “teenage dream”, which kicks), and probably a necessary bloodletting for Olivia and her similar-aged fan base, but where she truly excels here is when she rocks. She’s still angry at unappreciative exes, but instead of just lamenting the loss, she’s in revenge mode. “get him back!” starts out like you think a song with that title would, but the chorus soon makes it clear why she wants that: I laughed out loud when she sang “I wanna meet his mom / Just to tell her her son sucks”. Her narrators are young women taking control of their messy lives, and, yes, being in charge means you screw up sometimes (“bad idea right?” is a howl), and you live with the consequences and move on. Other favourites are “all-american bitch”, “ballad of a homeschooled girl” and “love is embarrassing”. When the record ended, I paid it the ultimate compliment: I moved the needle back to the beginning.