Can't get Google domain to forward after changing IP

Edit: per the pinned "Necessary Information" thread, I'm putting this info up front all in one place.

• Domain URL: gifthammer.com (only supports http)
• Google Domains migrated
• Site hosted on a Google Cloud Compute server instance. (Previously on a different GCloud Compute instance)
• Site is active, accessible only via http://35.211.142.2

I have a domain that got migrated along with the SS buy-up of Google Domains, and more importantly, that domain is pointing to a Google Compute webserver I run.

After the second big SSH vulnerability a couple weeks ago, I had to do some maintenance and rebuilt the server instance from scratch. Now, after setting up the new server (+ updating the SS A-record and Website forward "To" record), SS refuses to redirect to the new server's IP address.

I'm a network newb when it comes to anything WAN like this, only working in local stuff except to run this http://gifthammer.com website (yes, I haven't set up SSL signing either. It's a read-only site). So there's a lot with the whole Google Domains transfer and nameserver management in general that I'm trying to catch up on here. I can only find two possible reasons for this continuing to not work:

1. The Google ownership CNAME record is out of date, or causing SS to forward to nonexistent IP in spite of my SS A-record. I can't find any info about this "googlehosted" address, so I can't tell if the hash string in front of it is sensitive or not (I redacted it just in case). This record is for search tools to verify site ownership and not to handle DNS or DDNS records, correct? If so it shouldn't be causing a problem.

2. Per https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/17131164996365-About-the-Google-Domains-migration-to-Squarespace, item 1 under the "Will my domain forwarding or email forwarding rules remain intact when my domain moves?" section, the google nameservers could still have the old server's IP in their records. If so, I have no idea how to update them since I have no access to Google's domain management page anymore.

I know for sure this isn't a case impatience waiting for the 24-48 period for any record changes to take effect. I finished making these changes a week ago and gifthammer.com is still directing to the old IP address even on browsers that don't have the address cached.