all-american bitch

“	"It's one of my favorite songs I've ever written. I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I've been trying to express since I was 15 years old-this repressed anger and feeling of confusion or trying to be put into a box as a girl."	”
– Rodrigo

all-american bitch
General information
Artist	Olivia Rodrigo
Release date	September 8, 2023
Recorded	2022
Genre	Pop-punk • indie rock • power pop • alternative rock
Length	2:46
Album	GUTS
Label	Geffen Records
Songwriter(s)	Rodrigo Daniel Nigro
Producer(s)	Nigro
GUTS chronology
"all-american bitch"
"bad idea right?"
ㅤ⠀ ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎‏‏‎Lyric video

"All-American Bitch" (stylized in all lowercase) is the first track from Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore studio album, GUTS. It was released on September 8, 2023 through Geffen Records.

Background

For the September 2023 cover of Interview Magazine, Rodrigo was interviewed by Phoebe Bridgers where she spoke in-depth about the album’s inspiration,

I was thinking about this today. We can cut it out if I’m not supposed to say it, but one of my favorite songs on the record is called ‘All-American Bitch.’ I thought that was such a fun title. I was reading—have you ever read The White Album by Joan Didion? She has so many fucking great quotes. I was reading this bit about her going to San Francisco to meet all these hippies—5-year-olds were dropping acid and going to Grateful Dead concerts. She was talking to some hippie who ran away from home and he called his mom an all-American bitch. And I was like, ‘That’s the fucking coolest phrase I’ve ever heard,’ so I had to write a song about it

I’ve experienced a lot of emotional turmoil over having all these feelings of rage and dissatisfaction that I felt like I couldn’t express, especially in my job. I’ve always felt like: you can never admit it, be so grateful all the time, so many people want this position. And that causes a lot of repressed feelings. I’ve always struggled with wanting to be this perfect American girl and the reality of not feeling like that all the time.

I’m most proud of the first track. It’s a concept that I’ve been trying to write for a really long time, and I think it’s really musically interesting too. I think it’s one of my best songs.

It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written. I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I’ve been trying to express since I was fifteen years old, this repressed anger and feeling of confusion or trying to be put into a box as a girl.

I think my favorite song on GUTS is “all-american bitch.” That was a song that we made it and we were, like, ‘Oh okay, maybe this is what the record is.’ It’s sort of this song that I wrote really inspired by punk bands that I grew up listening to. It’s something that I’ve been trying to say, lyrically, for a while, and I think I got it in this one. I’m really proud of it.

Theme

“all-american bitch” is the pop-punk, indie rock, power pop, and alternative rock opening track of Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, with influences of punk rock and grunge. The title was inspired from the book The White Album, by the American writer Joan Didion. The song explores the contradictions inherent in American culture which places and promotes unattainable ideals for women to achieve rife with double standards.

The emotions explored in the song highlight her feel of misplacement in American culture and society and ultimately how she feels she isn’t doing enough to be this perfect American woman. Olivia asserts confidence in herself throughout the song, but in particular the bridge, where she highlights that she really is perfect.

Official Versions

	Version	Released on	Release date	Producer(s)	Creation date	Length
▶	Final	GUTS	September 8, 2023	Dan Nigro	2022	2:46
Demos
	Demo 1	Unreleased	Unleaked	Nigro	2022	Unknown
	Demo 2	Unreleased	Unleaked	Nigro	2022	Unknown
	"ALL AMERICAN BITCH SPIKE REF 2 LIM" (demo 3)	Unreleased	Unleaked	Nigro	2022	Unknown

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I am light as a feather, I'm as stiff as a board
I pay attention to things that most people ignore
And I'm alright with the movies
That make jokes 'bout senseless cruelty, that's for sure
And I am built like a mother and a total machine
I feel for your every little issue, I know just what you mean
And I make light of the darkness
I've got sun in my motherfuckin' pocket, best believe
Yeah, you know me, I

[Chorus]
Forgive and I forget
I know my age, and I act like it
Got what you can't resist
I'm a perfect all-American

[Verse 2]
I am light as a feather, I'm as fresh as the air
Coca-Cola bottles that I only use to curl my hair
I got class and integrity
Just like a goddamn Kennedy, I swear
With love to spare, I

[Chorus]
Forgive and I forget
I know my age, and I act like it
Got what you can't resist
I'm a perfect all-American bitch
With perfect all-American lips
And perfect all-American hips
I know my place
I know my place, and this is it

[Bridge]
I don't get angry when I'm pissed
I'm the eternal optimist
I scream inside to deal with it, like, "Ah"
Like, "Ah" (Oh my fucking god)

[Outro]
All the time
I'm grateful all the time
I'm sexy and I'm kind
I'm pretty when I cry
Oh, all the time
I'm grateful all the time (Grateful all the fucking time)
I'm sexy and I'm kind
I'm pretty when I cry

Videos

Olivia Rodrigo - all-american bitch (live from rehearsal)

Olivia Rodrigo - all-american bitch (live from SNL)

Olivia Rodrigo - all-american bitch (Official Live Performance) - Vevo

Trivia

• Within the song’s clean version, “I’ve got sun in my motherfuckin’ pocket” is replaced with “sun coming out of my pockets,” along with “Like a goddamn Kennedy” replaced by “I’m as graceful as a Kennedy.”
• When singing “All-American Bitch,” it’s replaced by silence after “American,” while “grateful all the fucking time” is replaced by “I’m grateful, grateful all the time.”
• The line "With perfect all-American lips and perfect all-American hips." was originally meant to be "'With perfect all-American lips and perfect all-American tits.", which she sang the original line (also considered explicit) in the Guts Tour.