The singer’s sophomore album makes a persuasive case for rock’s rebirth as musical theater, as she comprehends life’s unavoidable obstacles. Kevin Mazur / Getty September 8, 2023, 11:06 AM ET Have you ever loved a song without knowing what it means? That rarely happens when I listen to Olivia Rodrigo. The 20-year-old pop star has conquered the world by singing about unruly emotions with the precision of a court reporter. The songs on her new album, Guts, offer tidy thesis statements about the nature of heartbreak, declaring, “Love’s embarrassing” (on “Love Is Embarrassing”) or “Love is never logical” (on “Logical”). The fantastic “Get Him Back!” describes being torn between lust and hatred for an ex—a messy situation that Rodrigo renders as a tight sitcom. “I wanna meet his mom,” she moans, “just to tell her her son sucks!” Rodrigo broke out in 2021 with a single (“Drivers License”) and a debut album (Sour) that were well timed for an age of post-metaphor, post-ambiguity pop songwriting. Likely influenced by both Taylor Swift’s talent for saying what …