With his new song “Guts,” Lauv has released an anthem for anyone who’s had a fake friend.

I haven’t thought about Lauv since he released “I Like Me Better,” but I really liked “Guts,” and I might look into his other work because of it.

We’ve all had a friendship where we’ve given more than we’ve gotten. There are more songs about romantic relationships like that, but when there are songs about friendships where that happens, I find them particularly relatable. The track begins with “One of us knows everything / The other one knows nothing.” I like that a lot, because it can be interpreted two ways. The first is that Lauv’s friend is actively stepping back, and Lauv doesn’t know why. The other is that Lauv’s friend is making a huge mistake letting him go, but Lauv is the only one who realizes it right now. It’s a clever opening, and matches the energy of the rest of the song.

Lauv’s voice is lovely here. His clear, bright tenor shines, and it has no frills. It makes the song sound more confessional. It’s not about impressing people (even though it does); it’s about delivering the message to his ex-friend that he hates his guts. That bluntness is added to by the visualizer being a one-sided text conversation of the lyrics.

“Guts” definitely has me intrigued about Lauv beyond the one song I’ve heard on the radio. It’s a very relatable song and I’m curious if he has more like it, because he sounds great and the lyrics hit home.

You can watch the visualizer for “Guts” below.

Emma Platt