No, today is not a theme day…
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[6.00]
Edward Okulicz: Yes! Between that 5SOS single and this, the Lit revival is on, and I for one welcome our freshly-resprayed power pop overlords.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: “We mix our tears with blood … We fight as hard as we love,” NFG’s Jordan Pudnik and Paramore’s Hayley Williams sing to each other, as the same old, same old pop-punk grinds on behind them.
[4]
Brad Shoup: The pop-punk duet is pretty rare, and so is the glam-metal guitar tone. Pundik’s hateration works well with the too-slow crawl of the riffs; the sweeter chorus provides the illusion of a quicker pace.
[7]
Iain Mew: “No clock will stop for us” they sing. The chugging riff says otherwise, painting a world permanently stuck in 2000, but not too bad off for it.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Hayley Williams’ strength is to shake the dust off old curtains, but chained to the rote chord progression and Jordan Pundik’s marshmallow vocal it sounds like it’s bored in a shelter while outside a 30 mph tropical storm tousles a palm frond.
[4]
Will Adams: My oldest sister was really into pop-punk in her youth. She always got shotgun in the station wagon, so I grew up in the backseat, hearing Does This Look Infected? and Blink-182 and Splinter and Catalyst in alternating loops. It never felt like my music, but I enjoyed it vicariously through my sister. The no-holds-barred vocals, the guitar crunch, the rapid-fire snare fills — they all felt pointedly individualistic, like their brashness was a middle finger to suburbia’s institutionalized decorum. I wish I could fully say I miss the early 2000s, because that also brings back being a powerless grade schooler who could never get shotgun, and yet….
[7]