Olivia Rodrigo — NPR Tiny Desk, Washington D.C., 2023

Filmed live session by American singer Olivia Rodrigo for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk, recorded on December 11, 2023 at the radio’s New York office. Two years after a first appearance shot remotely because of the pandemic, the pop breakout returns to perform songs from her acclaimed second album, GUTS. Stripped of their stadium production, the songs reveal themselves in an intimate format: the grunge fury of love is embarrassing on acoustic guitar, the uneasy vampire dressed in hushed backing vocals, lacy born from a poetry exercise, and making the bed, delivered alone at the piano. Backed by an all-female band, Rodrigo confirms her gift for writing and a stage maturity that belies her youth. For fans of pop-rock and contemporary songwriting, this filmed live concert offers a bare reading of one of the decade’s most striking repertoires, far from the roar of arenas, as close as possible to the voice and the words.