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One Liner: Very catchy pop punk action Wikipedia Genre: pop punk, alternative rock Home: Oxford, England Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23 Day: Saturday Weekend Two Only.
BMI Stage at 1:30.
Thoughts: Nice to be pleasantly surprised as I troll around the dregs of the poster. Not that many songs really, and so I feel like I've heard some of them five times in just the last few hours. Regardless, the mix of alt rock and a poppy vocal is kind of fun. Like, you know how Linkin Park added a new female vocalist to take Bennington's spot? This is like if Britney Spears took over the singing duty and didn't try to scream her way into it.
No actual albums, just singles and a few EPs. The biggest track, by stream-count, has played several times, and I always look up from my work and notice at the same time. It made me laugh out loud a few minutes ago to realize I had done it again. "HOW 2 GET AWAY WITH MURDER" has 9.1 million streams.
At first, for me, those voice effects are a turnoff, but then I get caught up in how damn catchy that pop punk flavoring is. It's that throwdown around 2:25 that catches me up every time.
The band itself is from Oxford, England and was formed in 2021 at university in Guildford. They apparently named themselves after a sign they saw in a shopping mall called Westgate Oxford. They released a few singles that got a little traction, but then their band rehearsals at BBC Radio 1's studio went viral for some reason on the TikketyTok. Their own cited inspirations? Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park. Maybe that is a better pull than Britney - this is like if Stefani was brattily singing for Linkin Park. Sometimes, I hear Miley Cyrus as well (like on "Supermodels").
This one is the biggest streamer from their 2024 EP, "2005," with 8.6 million streams.
Tasty, crunchy riffs will open the door to me anytime. And so even when those vocals get a little too cutesy, I'm still over here biting my lip and nodding along. I spent all weekend out in North Carolina, enjoying some nice weather and good company with some friends. These songs kept popping into my brain - they are just super catchy for my brain!
One Liner: Gothy, unpleasant electropop with some heavy metal snips
Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, electropop, pop-punk Home: New Jersey Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13 Both Weekends.
Sunday at 3:30 on the Ladybird Stage.
Thoughts: One of those sorta goth pop singers. We've had a number of those come and go through the festival over the years. Sort of hard to quantify, because some songs sound like EDM, some sound like lite metal, one sounds like some sort of gypsy pop. Who knows. Lots of goth imagery and face makeup though. She is a featured artist on multiple of the top songs in her Spotify - rather than them being her tracks. Things I have never heard of, like Stand Atlantic, Arcane, Slash Puppy, Sleeping with Sirens, Jutes, or Lindsey Sterling, and them some I have heard of like Demi Lovato(?!?). The thing that makes this weird to me is that she doesn't have an especially amazing voice - why are so many other tiny artists seeking her out to add vocals to their song?
Ryan Jillian Santiago was born around the time I graduated from high school. She was a competitive dancer as a child, until she apparently shattered both of her heels at age 14 while jumping from a stage. Gaaaaaaah. Don't do that! She got into musical theater and taught herself how to play guitar. At 18, she moved to L.A. to attend art school and bartend. She says that the stage name translates to "Me + My Ego." Which, errr, sure. I guess I missed the part where she is actual royalty?
No albums, just three EPs. 2021's searching for nirvana, 2022's IF I DIED WOULD ANYONE CARE, and 2022's Happiness is an Inside Job. We have issues with capitalization, I see. The top song that she is featured on is one from Gayle, who was hear at ACL previously, with her catchy "abcdefu" song that somehow has over a billion streams. The top track that is just from Ms. Santiago is a single that was featured on that first EP. "overwhelmed" has 213.1 million streams.
Another popular track about being anxious. Between her and Doechii, we can fire up an anxiety party for all of the youth who need a mental health break. Don't love it. Top track after that is "FUCKBOI REJECTS" from the second EP. 11.3 million streams and just a terrible song name.
Well, that is a weird detour into a more straight-pop direction. Well, a dark as shit straight-pop thing, but that is a terrible song. If Avril Lavigne had no filter and tried to out-raunch Eminem. I thought about providing you with a new single, but honestly, if what you have heard so far is appealing, then please feel free to search that out on your own.
One Liner: Screamy emo post hardcore freakout music Wikipedia Genre: Post hardcore, pop-punk, experimental rock, emo, progressive rock Home: San Diego Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 2 Day: Saturday Weekend Two Only.
T-Mobile Stage at 6:15.
Thoughts: I just laughed out loud when the first track started. This has never been on my radar, and likely for good reason, as my wife would have filed for divorce long ago if I had played their most popular song anywhere near her earholes. I am also intrigued by the fact that this is one of the bigger rock acts on the poster this year, and yet I've never heard a single one of these songs.
Okay. You just have to hear this first song. I just laughed out loud again. "King for a Day" somehow has 535.5 million streams. And I sincerely doubt it was from TikTok videos.
Like Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance and The Used got together to try to make a song without planning beforehand. And I like some hard rock, but you almost always lose me when the screamo crap starts in. Because portions of that song are good enough, but not the whole thing at all. I'm feeling that repeatedly as I listen to these guys - like, "oooh, that riff was sweet!" or "that drum fill was legit," but the overall package is not good for me.
The band was formed in 2006 by two brothers, Vic and Mike Fuentes, who had previously been in San Diego punk band Before Today (which had previously been known as Early Times). The brothers released their first album in 2007, and then not long after that they added a bassist and lead guitarist. Interesting that they have been around for so long. The band name apparently came from a line in a song by their old band. I was kind of hoping that one of them was a recovering lawyer who knew about piercing the corporate veil to get at the assets of bad actors using the corporate form to shield assets. The first album has a much more emo rock, pop-punk sound. The top song on that disc is the unfortunately named "Yeah Boy and Doll Face," with 40.9 million streams.
Like a slightly less poppy Fall Out Boy, maybe. I've really never gotten into this little sub-genre of post hardcore stuff very much, so all of my references are going to be the mainstream ones like FOB and MCR. Like, every band talked about in their Wikipedia - the bands they toured with or collaborated with or whatever - are things I have never heard of like Emmure, or Chiodos, or Mayday Parade, or A Day to Remember, or August Burns Red. I am outside of my zone.
The second album has bigger stream counts, with the hit being "Caraphernelia" at 163.4 million streams.
Got the cookie monster screaming going in there, so I guess they reached their form by now. I looked it up to see if this was a real word, but it is not: ""Caraphernelia" is a term coined by the band Pierce the Veil to describe a broken-heart condition where a person leaves, but leaves behind their belongings, causing painful memories and heartbreak. It's a combination of the name "Cara" (possibly referencing someone the band member knew) and "paraphernalia". " Again, some cool aspects to that song, which are ruined by some other aspects of that song.
2012's Collide With the Sky is their peak - half of their most popular songs are on this disc. Including the main hit up above, but also several others with over 100 million streams. To show just how out of the loop I am, after this album and their touring with it, they won nine categories of the 2012 reader's poll conducted by Alternative Press, including Best Live Band of the Year, Album of the Year, and Artists of the Year. Fascinating. 2016's Misadventures appears to have been less popular, at least from stream count. Funny thing, I might like it better than some of the screamier ones from before. Also around now, the drummer was accused of soliciting nude photos from some minor young ladies, as well as statutory rape, and he decided to leave the band to "concentrate on his personal life." The band claimed to be working on new music in 2018, but it looks like they took a little break until their 2023 album Jaws of Life.
The top song from that recent disc is called "Pass The Nirvana" with 83.4 million streams, and I think I like it.
Oh, that Pennywise girl is not good news. I don't understand how that fella doesn't shred his voice, it is truly interesting how he can sing with a clean voice one line and Satan's disembodied shriek the next. But even with the screaming, the groove of that tune caught me up. That is their best album for sure - they went with a more tuneful and streamlined sound. The intro song definitely reminds me of My Chemical Romance. Still has some screaming, but it is significantly less than the older discs.
Luckily this is weekend two, so I won't even have to worry about whether to line up for The Strokes or go watch this happen. If you go, I would honestly love to hear what you thought.
One Liner: Emo pop punk that probably should have remained in 2002
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, pop-punk Home: Orange County, CA
Poster Position: 6 Weekend One Only. Saturday at 2:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: The lead singer of this band was here a few years ago, as Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and I remember looking up what Something Corporate was because I had never heard of the band. So, it seems like the lead guy tried other things before coming back to his old mates. The band was formed in Orange County in 1998 and it sounds like it - sorta pop punk, sorta emo, sorta operatic alternative rock. They went on hiatus in 2004 and the McMahon started a new band called Jack's Mannequin, but then they reformed in 2010. It sounds like they didn't do much with that reformation, until they reunited their core lineup for the When We Were Young festival in 2023.
Which is made obvious because their discography is super lame - 2002 album Leaving Through the Window, 2003's North, and then a 2010 Greatest Hits album. I'm sorry, but if you have two albums, you do not need a greatest hits compilation. At all. That is horseshit. I'm sure there are some 30 year olds who are pumped about this band coming to the Festival, but I am preemptively annoyed by them. There is also too much stuff in here that uses string arrangements to sound pompously important and it is bothering me.
Top track is from that first album - "Punk Rock Princess" - with 24.7 million streams.
The piano cracks me up. It's like The Fray tried to get harder edged. Also, dude is wearing flip flops to sing in a pop punk band and play the piano? Really? I make fun, but that is a pretty solid early oughts sneering pop punk anthem. I'm trying to think what I was really into in 2002 that would have kept me from even knowing this band existed. I guess it would be The Killers. Oh, The Eminem Show was that year, as was the O Brother soundtrack, Nellyville, Dave Matthews' Busted Stuff, Dixie Chicks' Home, Songs for the Deaf, Yoshimi, Lord Willin', Sea Change - some classics. I think this was about the time that The Hives put out that one album that I wore out as well. Well, this band's other big song is from that same album, called "I Woke Up in a Car," also with just over 24 million streams. After that, the stream count falls off. The biggest track from North is "Space," with 6.5 million streams.
Yeah, sure. I can see how this would have clicked with me back then, but now it just sounds overwrought and like he's trying too hard. The kind of band who would put out a greatest hits album to commemorate their two hits and then just stuff it with every song they had ever made. I'll let this band do their thing without me.
Wikipedia Genre: pop punk, alternative rock, skate punk, punk rock
Home: Poway, California (suburb of San Diego)
Poster Position: Headliner! Both Weekends. Friday at 8:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: One of the biggest pop punk bands around. Green Day feels bigger to me, without doing the research that would be required to establish that as a fact, but there was a time in the late 90's when I might have lost that wager. But where Green Day matured a little and starting making political satire and other topical stuff, these dudes just kept singing about their lack of maturity and weird sexual things.
Their formation may not be that interesting, but I like the serendipity in it. Guitarist Tom DeLonge was expelled from high school for being drunk at a basketball game, and had to go to a different high school. While there, he performed in a Battle of the Bands and met drummer Scott Raynor, and through a friend's sister, met Mark Hoppus who was in town to attend college. The three formed the band in DeLonge's garage, bonding over their love of scrappy punk rock. If dipshit #1 hadn't gotten drunk for a basketball game, no Blink 182.
The band was originally just "Blink" but once they started to get some early traction, and Irish band named Blink sent them notice and so they supposedly just added a random number on to the end. Explanations of “182” include the number of times Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana says “fuck” in Scarface, the number of the ship on which Hoppus’s grandfather served in the Marines, and Hoppus’s ideal weight. But, DeLonge has apparently confirmed that the number actually has to do with some sort of dumb high school rivalry. The maybe-sorta-kinda confirmed thing for people from Poway is that Blink-182 is a euphemism for “Fuck RB,” because R is the alphabet’s eighteenth letter and B is the second. “18 + 2 = R + B = Rancho Bernardo”. Riiiiiiiiiight. There is also discussion of how the Brits call it Blink One Eight Two, and James Corden said it should actually be called Blink One Hundred and Eighty Two, and so Delonge said it should actually be Blink Eighteen Two. Exhausting. Blink One Eighty-Two for me.
Out of curiosity, that Irish band Blink doesn't appear to exist anymore. On Spotify, there is a BLINKYSPIRIT, a Blink that does techno with Asian vocals, BLINKERRED, Blinky Bill, Blinky Blink, Blinkie, BlinkMade, BlinkScape, Blinky, Blink (looks like K Pop), and some others, but none appears to be the Irish band that messed up this whole thing.
Fascinating that they had a 1994 album named Buddha - no one seems to be listening to it much and I don't recognize the songs. Weird. Even weirder, Cheshire Cat is a 1995 album that repeats some of the songs from that earlier album, and likewise seems under the radar. I jammed a little of that and it is suuuuper raw. Like, definitely the sound of some kids who just figured out to record themselves and hit some chords on the guitar. It was 1997's Dude Ranch that finally got them a hit - and a lot cleaner production. But this is still the sound with the original drummer, a guy named Scott Raynor, who got tossed after this album and before the biggest hits of their career. Anyway, the big hit from Dude Ranch is "Dammit," which is a classic 90's radio staple you'll still hear today. 289.3 million streams.
Funny seeing that other drummer in the band and not the tatted up Barker. They are so clean cut looking! "Well I guess this is growing up" is so basic but a great line. This was the era when I definitely did not own that whole album, but I bet I downloaded that song and "Josie" on Napster and then played it on my WinAmp with a sweet skin while working for AOL. Haha. Good times.
But it was 1999's Enema of the State, with its porn-star-nurse-cover and mega-hits that finally turned this into a major thing. And some strange detours in here, being that "All The Small Things" is just a poppy mega hit (1.1 BILLION streams), "What's My Age Again" is more juvenile dick joke humor stuff (721.3 million streams), and then "Adam's Song" is a kind of lovely song about teen suicide (313.1 million streams). That is a really wide range. I don't know this album as well as the next one, but those hits are pretty undeniable.
Massive MTV rotation for that video, and apparently still very popular for over a billion streams and 373 million views on YT. And now you get all of those huge drum fills and power cymbals from Barker. You also get some surprisingly good lyrics like the bit about work sucking and how little surprises like roses by the stairs let your loved one know that you care. But the polish and shine on this album is obvious - no longer the raw bashing of those first few albums. This is slick and catchy pop rock.
After that huge album, they did a live album, and it is my sincere desire that they are no longer like this, now that they are in their mid-50's. But tons of dick jokes and "I want a blow job from your mom" jokes and just deeply stupid crap. "Everyone yell FUCK!"
Next comes my favorite album of the bunch, 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Again, a well-produced, slick, catchy, tight set of songs that are both funny and rockin'. Pretty sure I owned this one. Not as commercially successful - at least less streamers for sure - but I really enjoyed it. The big hits were "The Rock Show," "Stay Together for the Kids" (again, kind of a more poignant subject for these goofy dudes), and "First Date." That one is the biggest with 439.7 million streams.
Great video. Another totally goofy song, but freaking catchy as all get out. Forever, forever, lets make this last forever! HOLY SHIT! That is where that little meme comes from when people show the blond guy in a mullet say What the Fuck - go to 1:54. That is wild! Great jam, especially the solo bit near the end. "Stay Together for the Kids" jams, by the way.
Apparently, right about now, the guys were rushed into releasing this album to capitalize on the popularity of the last one, and after a co-headlining tour with Green Day things were not all awesome. DeLonge made a sorta solo project, but he invited Barker to do the drums, so it made Hopper feel dissed and made a rift. Barker also started working outside the group with a band called Transplants (bad rap/rock stuff) on the side. They got back together for 2003's blink-182, which fired up one of their biggest tracks. Funny though, because to me it is muddy sounding. The drums are muffled and the whole sound is just not nearly as crisp as their other albums. I wonder why. Anyway, "I Miss You" was the big one here, with 783.7 million streams, some strings, and a continued presence on the radio even today.
The thing that I always remember about that track is how weird his voice sounds. Before a whole group of young ladies learned to sign in italics, he was out here singing "wheryyre ayyyyre yuurr... or ... voyyyce inshwwd myyyed" But it is a nice little song. I prefer the dumb shit, personally, but I'm not anti-love song. "Feeling This" and "Always" got some traction on that disc too. The disc, like that video up above, has a little more emo-ness to it, instead of just the usual frat boy punk.
Right about here, the simmering rift in the band blew it up and they announced a hiatus in 2005. DeLonge wanted more time with his family and less touring, the other guys didn't. Hoppus was still made about the side project. So, DeLonge formed Angels and Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker made an album with a project they called +44 (if you go back to the weird numbering thing, D is the fourth letter in the alphabet so maybe they're saying to add DDelonge to the list of fuck yous?). Barker gained more fame with reality TV shows and then a major plane crash that killed four other passengers and left him with PTSD and the need for 16 different surgeries. After that brush with death, the guys decided to sit down and work it out.
The result of that was 2011's Neighborhoods. Even though they were "back" together, they actually recorded the album in separate places and never really made a cohesive thing. You also have the fact that the pop punk thing is not in vogue by now. So, no real hits on that disc - maybe "After Midnight," but I just put that one on and don't recall it at all. After this, they tried touring (although Barker wouldn't fly so it wasn't simple) and then DeLonge exited the band again (in part to investigate UFOs).
So, they had to find a new guitarist and part time vocalist, and ended up with a guy named Matt Skiba, who had been in Alkaline Trio. I don't know that band at all. After some legal battles with DeLonge, Skiba became an official member and in 2016 they released California. Here was my review of it at the time:
"Man, I like this album a lot even though this was one of the two discs they did with a replacement guitarist/vocalist, while Tom DeLonge was out of the band. Nothing new from the old sound of the band, in fact, any of these songs could have been taken from the sessions for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and I would not have been surprised. Strong drumming, tight harmonic singing, quick blast songs, it sounds just like the old Blink. And they still keep their boyish frat party vibe going, with two super short songs ("Built This Pool" and "Brohemian Rhapsody") that contain a juvenile joke and little else. If you never did like Blink, then this disc will still be disappointing and boring to you, but as someone who enjoyed TOYPaJ back in the day, this sounds good to me. The hit off of here so far is "Bored to Death," and I like it even though it has been on constant rotation on the radio [FYI, in 2024, 163.1 million streams]. Such a trademark sound, especially the chorus and the line "Life is too short to last long," sung as a throwaway line after the main portion of the chorus. I assume you've already heard that song 80 times, so I'll bring you my second favorite track, "San Diego." [38.7 million streams in 2024]
That video makes me want to vomit - the movement of the lyrics is unsettling to my eyes. But I dig the tune, and the nostalgic points making about jamming the Cure in the parking lot before a show. "Los Angeles" is also good, as is "California" and "No Future." Another album that is fun, although you're not going to want to parse the lyrics and make a case for a Pulitzer. But fun to jam nonetheless."
2019's Nine did not affect me the same way. Here was my review:
"This one will truly live up to the title of these posts, and be very quick. No. I was on the fence about liking this bratty pop-punk back in the Clinton administration, but now this all sounds the same. Whiny, bratty, generically mediocre pop rock with a great drummer. This one also is missing DeLonge. "I Really Wish I Hated You" is tops with 16.8 million streams [now at 64.6 million].
They were best when they were funny, and nothing about these songs is funny at all to me. No."
COVID messed up the promotional cycle for that one, but also by 2021 Hoppus revealed that he had been receiving treatment for cancer. That caused yet another sit down and make-nice between the boys, and they rejoined. It sounds like maybe Skiba didn't get the best messaging about getting booted out, but it seems like he took it pretty well. So, they played a surprise set at Coachella in 2023 for their first show with the whole group in almost a decade, and then made some new music. Here is my review.
"Blink 182 - One More Time. Hey! Speaking of a band who could have just kept living off of their prior popularity! The first thing I notice here is that Travis Barker freaking jams. People have talked him up as the top tier drummer for years, and I've never really noticed much out of him on those classic Blink albums. But I really feel like he is magnificent on these tunes. "Fell in Love" sounds like they are stealing from The Cure. "One More Time" is the sad-boy ballad that has been working it on the radio waves recently - 47.7 million streams of people singing about "do I have to dieeeyyyy to hear you miss meeeeeeee."
I mean, I know Mark Hoppus almost died from cancer and all, and Barker almost died in a plane crash, so this is kind of sweet. But it is also very treacly and too twee for me. Of course, after I have heard it, my brain doesn't care and I keep singing it over again. So maybe it is better than I am willing to admit. I know that they are mixing in lots of silliness in here, but I am not going to go take the time to read their lyrics to see which songs are about masturbation. But even if this is just a carbon copy of the classic sound they used in the late 90's, it feels fun to me. Like, the generic Blink-ness of "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT" which sounds like it even rips off "Adam's Song" for the taut chorus and then arena-sized chorus feels like it could have been on multiple other Blink albums. Which is likely for the best at this stage."
So, the big decision is whether I'm going to go see this. I think the answer is most likely yes, even though Stapleton is probably my favorite thing on the whole poster. But I've seen Stapleton do his thing four or five times by now, so it seems to me that it would make more sense to go to the fun thing that I've never seen before. We'll see, I guess!
One Liner: Dance rock slash Machine Gun Kelly thing with lyrics built to shock.
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative Rock, hip hop, pop punk Home: Doncaster, England Poster Position: 8 Weekend Two Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: A friend had suggested this guy to me back in 2018 when I was in dire need of fresh tunes. At the time, Yungblud only had a five song EP, and I loved it. He's loose, raw, excitable, very clearly British, and a little ridiculous. Not a great voice, purposefully raspy and raw, but the songs can be very fun. Dominic Harrison is his real name. Since that EP, he released his full-length debut, 2018's 21st Century Liability, which repeats three of the EPs songs but leaves off one of my favorites, "King Charles."
Groovy, political, rock and roll. But, like I said, this one didn't make the cut for the album, so maybe I'm alone in digging it. I dunno. The track with the most streams was the top one from the EP as well, and is a little more reckless. "I Love You, Will You Marry Me" has just over 33.9 million streams.
Much more of a pop rock feel, with that ska guitar bounce and a driving beat. And a highly entertaining video.
So, after those two songs up above, you can understand why I'm enjoying the guy - fun, energetic, danceable, good times. Then his album comes out and its sprinkled with songs that leave the fun behind for a message, and I'm disappointed. "Kill Somebody" repeatedly gripes about how someone made him feel bad, so now he just wants to kill somebody like you. Which honestly isn't that funny or clever. And the tune is super basic. "Machine Gun (F**k the NRA)" is, not shockingly, a screed about depressed/psychotic people who get made famous by using their machine gun (or otherwise hurting themselves). Again, not really presented in a way that provides useful commentary on the subject, just a mediocre beat and apparent excitement about showing off and machine guns. "California" has a neat chorus capper - "swear that when I get old you'll blow my brains out." "Die for the Hype" has a chorus asking to die for the hype, "crucified like Jesus Christ." I'll give you the most streamed of the new tracks, another happy tune. "Psychotic Kids," which has 26.1 million streams.
Oh, neat! Crazy kids don't know what they want! You dropped the hair dryer in your bath! Your parents are stupid! And the video gets just as disturbing. Maybe he decided the Marilyn Manson shock-rock route was the best way to get fans? Does that still work? In this interview, he says that he just wants to sing about real subjects that other people tiptoe around, so I guess I get that (sort of?). "And I want this album to be an outlet for people who feel like they can’t be themselves, or feel like they can’t say what they think. Because if you feel like your voice isn’t important, you’re wrong. It is. Everyone’s voice is important." MMMkay, not sure how giving voice to assholes who want to kill someone is a good idea? Maybe I'm missing some clever hidden meaning here, but that seems like a super shitty thing to do? He also released a 2018 EP of four of his songs in an unplugged setting, which are tender and kind of arresting. I talked about "Polygraph Eyes" back in my original review, very good tune, and sounds even cooler when stripped.
And after all of this, he came to ACL in 2018 and I went to the show. Wow, welcome to f-bomb town, kids! This show was actually damn fun, he was manic and wild and very hyped up, but if he used less that 50 "fucks" I'd be shocked. And if he stuck his tongue out less than 300 times, I'd be shocked. Although, I will also admit that my 10 year old daughter looked up at me at one point and asked if he was lip syncing. And so I had to explain to her about backing tracks and what those are used for. To which she replied that it seemed like cheating, and I have to agree. If you're going to use a backing track, then you can't forget to sing along the whole time. This was like Eminem a few years ago, where Yungblud would pull the mic down to strut or stick out his tongue, and yet we would still hear him "singing" the words.
Since then, he released more music, including the 2020 album weird! and some other singles and EPs. He has definitely shifted into a pop punk phase with Machine Gun Kelly as his inspiration now. His most popular track on Spotify is actually a MGK song. But his second-most streamed tune is from that 2020 album, called "parents." 241.7 million streams.
Huh. Speaking of Eminem, that is like a shitty Eminem facsimile about killing your dad and humping your best friend. That is a terrible song. I get he sentiment, that parents are wrong and it is okay to be homosexual, the actual product there is garbage. Too bad, really, that he didn't stick with the pure fun of the early EP. This new album isn't it. "fleabag" makes me think of that Wheetus song "Teenage Dirtbag."
I don't guess I would go see this one even if I was there on Sunday of weekend two.
One Liner: Pop punk from the second-most-popular Charlotte on Spotify
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is some pop punk and pop pop and alt pop Home: Nashville Poster Position: 23 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Not terribly far off from the pop rock of P!nk, but with a little harder edge and more punkiness. I read a story about her that the jumping off point for her was at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, when her plans for a nationwide tour got scuttled with everyone else's. Right around then, she posted "Dress," a song that responded "to conservative pundit Candace Owens and the negativity surrounding Harry Styles’ Vogue cover where he sported a Gucci ball gown." It went viral on TikTok and now it is her top song by a long way. 26.4 million streams.
Yeah, that is a pretty solid song lyrically - I like the backstory for it for sure. As a tune its just fine, but loving the way a guy wears a dress, and saying he looks so good you're annoyed, that is clever. So, that song got her some notice and momentum and she then released her first EP - Special - in 2021. That was followed by a 2022 "album" that only has seven songs (versus her six song EP) and "Dress" was on both. She grew up in Massachusets, but moved to Nashville to do music two weeks after high school ended. This ain't the music I expect to come out of Nashville.
Her 2020 single "I Don't Care" is her second biggest streamer with 8.1 million.
Sounds more like a Billie Eilish copycat thing, and I like it less. After hearing that one, and generally seeing her blue hair and pop stuff, I was prepared to dislike all of this, but actually some of it has wormed its way into my heart. "Every Guy Ever" is a pretty generic pop rock song with some drum machines thrown in for good measure, and yet I find myself bopping along to it like one of the good Olivia Rodrigo tunes. I'll allow it. "Bad Day" is another jump-along fun tune though, complete with a little dive into trap music at one point.
She also has a few songs with other bands - Underoath and Taking Back Sunday and The Maine - that are more like pop punk emo tunes. She says that the inspiration for those EPs and albums were Kelly Clarkson, P!nk, Avril Lavigne, and Katy Perry. For some reason, she lists Yungblud as a major inspiration and idol. Maybe they'll do a collaboration this fall.
I'm in the maybe camp here - its not as bad as my knee jerk reaction wanted me to think, but she also has not entirely won me over. May be a good one to take my girls to.
Wikipedia Genre: Pop, pop-rock, R&B Home:America Poster Position: Headliner! Both Weekends. Saturday.
Thoughts: I mean, my immediate and honest thoughts here are as follows: WTF? Pink feels about as likely to be top three for the ACL lineup as Kelly Clarkson or the Spice Girls. Is she even still making music? The last time I remember knowing about a song she made was back when Charlie's Angels was in the theaters. There it is, 2001's M!ssundaztood has "Get the Party Started," is the only song on her discography that I recognize by the title and could sing a bar of. "What About Us" sounds familiar, but I couldn't even hum a bar for you from memory. Which is freaking wild, that someone like that is #2. She's been around for 22 years and has a single song that a casual fan knows! I'm sure you, dear reader, are deeply familiar with her catalog, but I'm absolutely shocked that she is #2 on the poster.
I just did a search for artists like Pink, and allmusic.com says she is similar to Demi Lovato, Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Icona Pop, Jessie J, Katy Perry, and Kelly Clarkson. Of those, you could make a case for Katy Perry being a top artists on a big festival lineup in 2022, but the rest would be a hard no. Really weird.
Anyhoo - you didn't come here for my lack of knowledge and incredulity. You came here to figure out who the hell P!nk is, because you also have no clue how she got here. Let's get into it.
Her real name is Alicia Moore. She was originally part of a group called Choice, but then went out on her own in 1995. Despite what I said above about her being a jenky #2 artist, Wikipedia says that she has sold over 60 million albums worldwide and is one of the "world's best-selling music artists." She trained as a competitive gymnast until she was 12. And started performing in Philly clubs when she was about 14 years old. Since then, she's won multiple Grammys and other awards, she's sung the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, got a Hollywood Star, named People Magazine's most beautiful, and done a bunch of other major artist things. I think I'm just in the dark about her, apparently.
She definitely has a distinctive voice - super powerful, but at the same time it is raw and husky at times. Loads of emotion in her voice.
2000's Can't Take Me Home was her debut, and it actually has a totally different feel than her current most popular tracks. Double platinum as well. The opening song - "Split Personality" very much sounds like some late 90's R&B, like Aaliyah or TLC. The top track even steals the harpsichord sounds from "Scrubs." This is "There You Go" with 31.9 million streams.
That is really weird to hear, after all of her top tracks are so rock-lite-centric. "Sometimes it beez like that." But nothing about that song sounds familiar - well, other than it sounding like TLC rip off.
But then 2001's M!ssundaztood (that is a really hard title to type) shifted a little to add some more guitar and rock attitude. This album went multi-platinum with more than 13 million albums sold world-wide. Which is a buttload! Three big tracks on there, from "Don't Let Me Get Me" (66.9 million streams), "Just Like a Pill" (144.8 million), and the only track that I knew before I started this, "Get the Party Started," with 156.3 million.
See - no more pink hair and rapper/basketball cute guys, now it's all about sexy, blonde, punky hair and alternative-rocker-looking cute guys. Genuinely fun song for sure. I don't think I had ever heard "Like a Pill" in my life. Super generic pop rock. But all three of those songs apparently went to #1 internationally. Oddly, some of these tracks have less than 4 million streams. Maybe this disc came out before streaming and so most people are just picking and choosing the ones they remember, instead of listening to the whole thing.
2003's Try This is even less popular, with several songs stream totals under 2 million. And yet, this album won her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She beat Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Bonnie Raitt, and Lucinda Williams. Four of those definitely do not seem like rock artists. The opening track is the top one with another pop rock track called "Trouble." It's actually pretty good. The second track surprisingly sounded familiar to me, called "God is a DJ." Kind of reminds me of Sheryl Crow's later songs. 18.1 million streams.
Now she's dropped the spiky party hair and is going with more of a London pompadour/mullet thing. That chorus is just awful. "If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, Love is the rhythm, you are the music." Like something I wrote in poetry class in 4th grade and got an F on. There is still some R&B hidden among the pop rock here - like "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping," but you can tell that she has mainly transitioned into the rock lane. But I can also see why no one is going back to listen to these old songs.
2006's I'm Not Dead includes a track with the Indigo Girls (not the most popular track) and two big tracks. "U + Ur Hand" has just over 100 million streams and "Who Knew" boasts 192.8 million. The title of the album makes me think that people had either thought she was dead or she felt written off because fame had passed her by. Not sure which. Here is her quote about the album title: "It's about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up even though people would like you to." Yeah man, stick it to the man, man. Here is "Who Knew."
Now we are to the big Madonna hairdo for this POWER BALLAD action. Can't recall ever hearing this one either, but its more of the light rock stuff that I bet still gets played on Magic 95 and Bob FM every day. "Nobody Knows" sounds like she was trying to crib off of the Beatles. The Indigo Girls one is actually a little hardcore - singing directly to President George W Bush about how shitty he was for womens' rights when he had daughters of his own. "U + Ur Hand" is just an awful song. I get that she's going for another woman empowerment song telling the guy to go home and get it on with himself, but it's just a deeply terrible mix of garbage faux-rock tune mixed with her overbearing lyrics.
2008 brought us Funhouse and her third biggest track - "So What." Another #1 song on the charts. Also, the album overall has a lot more streams than those earlier discs. Only one song under 10 million streams. Never heard "Sober" (127.8 million streams) or "Please Don't Leave Me" (110.4 million). Likewise, nothing rings a bell about "So What." 413 million streams.
Back to the punk hair thing. That video is just deeply obnoxious, just trying so hard to be punk when she is just so not punk. "So what, I'm still a rock star, I got my rock moves, and I don't need you." I got my rock moves. Yep. She sings that repeatedly. Dammit, and then ten minutes after hearing this my brain sang "nanananananana I'm gonna start a fight."
You know what I just realized? P!nk is the Chili Peppers for the ladies. Half of the appeal of the Chilis is that they just rock out and sing dumb lyrics and are a fun time to party. P!nk is just doing the same thing but with lesser musicians involved. This is music for ladies who just want to jump around to a rock song and sing about how guys suck or they wanna party, but they don't want the rock song to be too rock-y or loud. Like, Metallica let normal kids like me think they were in to metal for a minute, or Green Day made me believe that I liked punk for a moment. But then I tried real metal and was immediately frightened back to my old stuff. That is the same here - a lady like my wife, who never wants to hear screaming or heavy guitar can pop these tunes on and feel vaguely rebellious and excited by the rock, but not be frightened. I'm sure you had already known that, but this is the inoffensive (but acts like it is offensive) party rock band for the ladies to enjoy.
2012's The Truth About Love shows her embracing the streaming age by including 17 songs and over an hour for the runtime. But it also includes her biggest tune and another with over 415 million streams. This was her first album to hit #1 on the charts. The monster hit is with Nate Ruess, who you might remember from the band Fun, because he was the lead singer of that band who had the huge hit or two with Jack Antonoff. This is "Just Give Me a Reason," with 896.7 million streams.
I feel like I had to have heard of that song previously, but before just listening to it again, I very honestly could not have sung any of it. Also, since I apparently have been very into hairdos this whole time, she is now in the weird tubular pompadour thing at this stage. Not a bad song. Cheesy love ballad and all, but a good catchy tune and their voices sound really good together. "Slut Like You" is a deeply cheesy slice of schlock. "Beam Me Up" sounds like more Sheryl Crow. I really hope we are almost done with these albums, as I'm deeply tired of super-generic soft rock by now.
2017's Beautiful Trauma has another big one - her second biggest streamer. And overall, the album looks to have been a hit - the lowest streamer is just below 20 million streams. Has a track with Eminem on it, and that makes me think that a lot of these songs sound a lot like those bad Eminem songs that sort of include a rock element while he raps - like the "Love the Way You Lie" one with the lady singing parts and then Eminem rapping parts. P!nk does both the rapping and the singing in this comparison, but the bad backing songs are the same. "What About Us" was the hit from this album with 619.3 million streams.
Now we are doing a poofy hair pouf and then the shaved head thing. Sounds very much like a show tune. Like someone in Hamilton should be belting this to the sky as a group of freed slaves dance in the background. The song is a little more of an electronic tune than most of the others on this album, and seems to be a protest song about people who are being forgotten or marginalized.
Damn. One more album. 2019's Hurts to Be Human. Has a few tracks with over 100 million streams, including the big one at 346 million, "Walk Me Home." A few cool collaborations on here too, with Chris Stapleton and Khalid the two big ones. Here is that "Walk Me Home" one.
Almost a country vibe in that one. And again, a show tune vibe. Definitely never heard that song before. Deeply uninteresting. A lot of electronic stuff here now - maybe she left the lite rock thing behind in favor of the newer sound that the kids are in to. Which is honestly even suckier than the lite rock. But she is good at being a chameleon and moving to the next sound that might keep her in the public eye! "The Last Song of Your Life" sounds like she is channeling Carole King.
Here is a good set of quotes from her Wikipedia page:
"James Montgomery of MTV describes her as "a fabulously fearless pop artist" who can "out-sing almost anyone out there. She can out-crazy Gaga or Lily. She's the total pop-star package, everything you'd want in a singer/entertainer/icon. And still, she remains oddly off the radar. Such is the price of busting borders". Entertainment Weekly said: "She essentially invented the whole modern wave of Pop Diva Domination: You can draw a straight line from "Get This Party Started" to Katy Perry, Kesha, pre-messianic Lady Gaga, and post-weird Rihanna." Glamour Magazine wrote: "When Pennsylvania-born Alecia Moore debuted in 2000, pop was dominated by long-locked blonds like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. Pink changed the game. Without her, the last 13 years of big-voiced, tough chick music is hard to imagine."
Shows you what I know!
Her most recent release is a live album called All I Know So Far: Setlist. Which is an odd title. And an odd set of tunes. She doesn't play a bunch of the biggest songs, but she covers Cyndi Lauper, No Doubt, Bishop Briggs, and Queen. But you don't get "Get the Party Started" or "What About Us" or "U + Ur Hand" or "God is a DJ."
I am definitely not interested in seeing her play live. I'm sure I'd have a good time if I just released myself from my skepticism and allowed myself the pleasure of goofy lite rock anthems, but I'm just not feeling it at all today.
One Liner: Bad pop-rock singer with one huge kiss-off TikTok hit
Wikipedia Genre: pop rock, pop-punk, power pop Home: Nashville (by way of Dallas) Poster Position: 13 Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: I can tell that I am aging out of the Festival world. Feels like it's all dudes doing mumbly pop punk rap or ladies doing this oversinging pop girl voice stuff. Also, this lady has the same song four times as her top four songs on Spotify. And then twice more as 7 and 8 on her top ten list. Here are their names: "abcdefu," "abcdefu (angrier)," "abc (the Wild Remix)," "abc (nicer)," "abcdefu (feat. Royal & the Serpent)," and "abcdefu (chill)." Seems like maybe she needs to write some new songs?
As I listen to the songs that are not slight modifications of that one silly song mentioned above, I'm actually kind of reminded of what I know of P!nk. I don't honestly know much P!nk music, but this voice combined with extremely generic pop rock tunes makes me conflate the two.
Taylor Gayle Rutherford is a 17 year old from Dallas. She moved to Nashville for her career. Her single is that one song (obviously) and it charted up to #1 in a handful of countries. The tune apparently went viral on TikTok, which is how she blew up and needed to create 384 copies of the tune. The algorithm must be fed!
No real albums, just some singles starting in 2020 and then one 2022 EP - a study of the human experience volume one. The top single is definitely the "abcdefu," with 665.5 million streams.
Keeping up the tradition of some bratty kiss off song. Ugh. I'm sure my girls both like this idiotic song. But obviously, this song is going to be a HUGE draw at the Festival for the kids to jump around to and yell the chorus in each others faces. I get it. But a not-so-hot take - this will be the moment for this artist and in a few years no one will remember that she somehow made it onto the top half of a major festival's poster.
Her second most streamed is a newer single called "ur just horny." 14.5 million streams.
Yeah, there is that sound that makes me think she is like P!nk. I'm sure I am wrong, being that I know one single P!nk song, but it is the comparison I hear. SO MUCH BREATHING!!! Very much am glad to move on from this artist as well. I would not go watch her.
One Liner: Auto-tuned R&B oversharing terribleness
Wikipedia Genre: He has Wikipedia, but it doesn't list genre. I'm calling it emo R&B Home:Beaumont, Texas Poster Position: 15 Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: If this guy wasn't a running back in college or something, I'm going to be deeply disappointed. If his #1 song on Spotify sounds familiar, its because it is a Tyler, the Creator track from the Call Me If You Get Lost album. After that collaboration (with 36 million streams), his best stream track only has 2 million. And I think I know why - I was hoping for a rapper here, since the poster is so very bereft of good rap. Instead, this is another singer guy who seems like he would be best used to sing a hook for a rapper, instead of performing entire emo R&B tunes. Because I think that is how I'd describe this. Emo R&B. My face just literally turned up into a bitter beer face while listening to the top track. "Social Cues." 2 million streams. And I have no clue how or why.
Reminds me of that godawful guy I went to watch last year. KennyHoopla. Did anyone else go to two songs of that and feel like they had walked through a nightmare? That dude couldn't sing worth a damn, and Autotune master here may have the same thing going on? This is what I feel like I'm getting here. I get it man, you have emotions. We all have emotions. You don't need to add AutoTune to them. I'm going to guess right now that this is a TikTok thing. Just the most plain and boring pop punk song with mediocre singing over the top. Make it stop.
Real name is Aaron Thomas, and shockingly he's almost 30. Expected 18 from that video. His father was a DJ so he was exposed to a lot of genres as a kid, but he apparently settled on bad auto-tuned singing. He originally worked under the names AyeTee and Teezo Suave, but Wikipedia says his videos "received little attention." HAHA, here's a quote the Wikipedia page has about one of his 2020 singles: "About "SUCKA!", Pitchfork stated the song lacked "the ear for production, nimble flow switch-ups, or, well, talent."" LOL. Pitchfork keeps bringing the heat on this kid! Also Wikipedia: "In June 2021, he featured on the song "RunItUp" with Tyler, the Creator, which Pitchfork called "unmemorable"." Amazing. And something I finally agree on with Pitchfork!
I'll give you his most recent track too, just so you get another sample. It's not good. "Handyman," with 332k streams.
I'm honestly fascinated by the YouTube comments. Someone calls him the goat? Someone says no other like you and is grateful to have discovered him? Another says he is a huge inspiration? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I guess there is always a fan of any type of music, but this is just bad stuff.
Sadly, nothing I'd read shows that he was ever a college running back. So depressing.
Wikipedia Genre: Hip Hop, pop-rap, rap rock, pop punk Home: Cleveland, OH Poster Position: 2 Both Weekends.
Friday at 4pm on the Honda Stage.
Thoughts: I had no clue that this was going to be pop punk. I had thought, this entire time, that Kelly was a rapper. Didn't he have a rap beef with Eminem at one time? Instead, this is some Blink 182-sounding stuff. Seems like we have a lot of Blink-ish bands here this year - did Travis Barker buy an interest in C3?
Real name is Colson Baker. He got his break from Puff Daddy signing him to Bad Boy. In an extremely confusing turn of events, he won "Top Rock Artist" at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. Which is honestly just deeply confusing. He was up for the award against AC/DC, AJR, Five Finger Death Punch, and twenty one pilots. What the actual hell, Billboard? Who came up with those nominees? I guess no women made rock last year? What a garbage list of rock. Seriously, even if you think the Pearl Jam, Green Day, or Springsteen records last year were no good, are you trying to tell me that this shite is better than the HAIM disc? The Soccer Mommy album? Fontaines DC, Hum, Phoebe Bridgers, Waxahatchee, Car Seat Head Rest, My Morning Jacket? I'm unnecessarily worked up here. Sorry.
Ah, looks like his old albums were rap, but then he shifted into pop punk with his most recent album - 2020's Ticket's to my Downfall - which has his most popular tracks. The pop punk stuff is entirely forgettable, except for when it's terrible. "kiss kiss" involves a chorus where he sings "kiss kiss, kiss kiss the bottle all night. Hello, Goodbye." It would have been cheesy if Avril Lavigne had done it 20 years ago, but trying to pass it off right now, its just embarrassing to even listen to it. And then, literally, if you played me "concert for aliens" or "nothing inside" and told me they were un-used b-sides from Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, I'd believe you. And the songs are tiny - 15 songs clock in under 37 minutes. I guess that is a plus? The big track is one with blackbear, called "my ex's best friend," that uses some trap elements in addition to the pop punk instrumentation. 311.3 million streams.
Huh. blackbear appears to be a rapper as well, with some of those painful looking throat tats. Why does this song have 331 million streams?
One of his newest singles, which somehow has 40 million streams, is deeply unpleasant. "DAYWALKER! (feat. CORPSE)" has a crappy beat and has about half of it's runtime taken up by Kelly just screaming the word FIGHT!
The dude is also an actor now. I have seen him in two roles - as Tommy Lee in The Dirt (pretty okay) and as a jerk in the Sandra Bullock movie Bird Box about monsters who only get you if you see them. Which was very weird.
I tried his first album out as well, and the opening track is just plain terrible. 2015's General Admission opens with "Spotlight," and its a bombastic mess of a song, trying so hard to sound important but just falling on its face. No wonder Eminem made fun of this guy. Actually, I just went and read up on that feud, and it all started when Kelly tweeted that Eminem's 16-year old daughter was "hot as fuck." Seems totally fair for Em to hate the kid after that, but I also have two young daughters, so keep your goofy blonde ass away from them kids. The top track from this first album is called "Till I Die," with 135.5 million streams.
I guess he is proud to be from Cleveland? Seems like a weird thing to be proud of. That being said, that track is legitimately good. Tough beat and good lyrics. Over 123 million views of that video too? Crazy. He also has a track on here with stupid ass Kid Rock. Gross. This album is over an hour long too, which is just too much. I also like "Oz," sounds like a classic UGK track. "Merry Go Round" sounds like he is copying Eminem.
The interesting thing is how hard he reps Cleveland up there, when his Wikipedia says he was born in Houston, and then moved around a lot, until settling in Denver. But it looks like he finished high school in Cleveland, so I guess settling on that as his identity makes sense.
I reviewed his 2017 album years ago:
Machine Gun Kelly - Bloom. This guy seems like a jackass. I read a short article about him in RS a few months ago, and he has one of those personalities that makes you just shake your head. First, the description of his sartorial choices:
"His fashion sense is singular: Think Axl Rose styled by Elton John during a blackout. Tonight, he's got on a distressed, acid-washed pale-blue denim jacket with "Thrill Ryde" etched on the back, a black and red floral shirt, low-hanging black jeans (with safety pins where the fly should be, a wallet chain, plus a black bandanna in a rear pocket) and pink-tinted circular-lensed glasses not unlike the pair Canadian reggae artist Snow wore in the "Informer" video. The shades nearly match the ruby grilles on his teeth."
Ugh. Or this great quote (now that he is going some movie and television work):
"On the set of a sci-fi movie he just shot, an actor playing a cop kept punching him in the chest, for real, in take after take. When he complained, he says, he was told to suck it up. "As Colson Baker, I took that loss on the chin," MGK says. "But, like, dude: Machine Gun probably would've whupped his fucking ass."
That is like fourth person speaking in the 12th person about a fictional person in the first person through the fourth wall. And so douchey. "If I would have been myself when I'm rapping when you punched me I would have killed you, bro! But since I was just me and not myself then its cool" And, finally:
"I just gave everything. I gave everything on that fucking stage! That's not right! They don't even know! I might not even walk the same at 40 years old because of how much shit I leave onstage. I'm fighting every night up there! How are you dissatisfied?"
Come on, man. If you literally are damaging your ability to walk in 13 more years, which I sincerely doubt, then you are doing it wrong. So stupid. Just jam your weak pop punk raps out and people will still enjoy. Or not. But you get paid either way. Don't injure yourself. "Let You Go" is the bad pop punk rap song I'm thinking of here, but the massive hit (and yes, this clown really does have a massive hit) is "Bad Things," which features Camila Cabello and boasts over 284 million streams. (that is now up to 531.6 million since then).
Biting a little bit of Pachelbel's Canon in D, but also some of Austin band Fastball's "Out of my Head," to make a radio-friendly cross-over hit like just about every one of Eminem's recent hits with some lady singer on board. Not a fan of that song or the rest of this album. Bits of it got my head nodding, but nah."
So, I apparently loved it! The top track from his 2019 album, the one right before he went "punk" shows some leaning into that style. "I Think I'm OKAY" features YUNGBLUD and Travis Barker (told you that guy keeps popping up!). 284.8 million streams.
Weird that the lady friend he has at the start looks like YungBlud if he shaved his terrible haircut off. I saw Yungblud with the kids at ACL a few years back, and that dude absolutely made his show difficult to watch with small children. What I realized about 5 minutes into the show was that the kids thought that they were about to see 5 Seconds of Summer, because they had a popular song right then called "Youngblood." They were deeply disappointed when it ended up being a heavily makeup'ed guy in a leg cast yelling F bombs and poking out his tongue.
I just asked my 13 year old what she thinks about MGK, and she had never heard of him. I am irrationally pleased by this fact. I even played the track with the bear guy and she didn't recognize it. There is hope for the youth.
Unfortunately, my buddy that I do ACL with has already warned me that he wants to see this. So, I'm just going to have to suck it up and go jam out to the Blink 182 redux action. Oh well, at least he didn't tell me I have to go watch any of the 38 other pop punk wannabes.
One Liner: Another emo rapper dabbling in bad pop punk after becoming TikTok famous
Wikipedia Genre: Rock, pop punk, emo rap Home: L.A. (previously in Chatanooga, TN) Poster Position: 14 Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 2:30 on the Honda Stage.
Thoughts: Another skinny white emo rapper guy who sounds like he's rapping over Travis Barker drums? Apparently, you pronounce this name as "Jaden." The guy's name is really Jaden Hossler, and Wikipedia tells me to write the band name in all lower case and pronounce as Jaden. Which, mmkay. He was born in Texas but then moved to Tennessee, so I vote that they have to claim him.
No actual albums yet. The biggest hit, by a ton, is "ANGELS & DEMONS" with 102.6 million streams.
Okay. So, we're doing a model shoot that just happens to involve lip synching a terrible Post Malone copycat thing? God that sucks. Watching him thrash his frosted tips repeatedly to convey all of his emotion is brutal. I deserve hazard pay.
His Wikipedia also explains why we are stuck with him - TikTok. In 2019, he joined and over the next few months he gained millions of followers before being asked to join the Sway House. WTF is that? Apparently there is a house in L.A. where a bunch of very popular TikTok personalities all just live and make their little videos? "It is a collaborative content house, allowing the different influencers and content creators to make videos together easily." I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. This article just told me that if I haven't heard of Sway House, then I probably have a mortgage. Well, up yours too. But I actually like this line "If you were to mock up a pop culture family tree, Sway House would be the Gen Z problem child of The Real World, Jackass, and Meekus from Zoolander." The house was founded by agents, and populated with 7 good looking dudes who already had big follower counts. The article says that jxdn left the house in May 2020 after a road trip led to an arrest on drug charges. So, this is why we now know about this doofus.
Ahhh! And he got signed to Travis Barker's label! I knew this sounded like the trademark Barker pounding. Is that three guys coming to ACL this year all with Barker ties? Four? Is he like the Bill Belicheck of emo pop punk with his own coaching tree? That is weird.
His Wikipedia says that he attempted suicide twice during his senior year of high school, and he's spoken some about that in his lyrics. The third song is called "BETTER OFF DEAD" and includes this line (super repeatedly) "cloudy with a chance of depression" and then followed up with "cloudy with a chance of anxiety." The thing that is strangest about that is the background music is a sing/song tune and a poppy trap beat. Doesn't seem to match the downer lyrics.
"Comatose" is his second most streamed track. Hey, shocker, he is thrashing his frosted tips in that one too.
Holy shit. Usually, when I watch a video for a song, it makes me like it more. With both of these tracks, I absolutely thought they were pretty harmless and okay, until I watched these videos, and now I deeply hate this guy.
I'm sure he'll have a massive crowd and everyone will talk up about how they got to see those frosted tips get tossed in real life, but I wouldn't go watch this one if THE HYPE BEAST paid me to go. AND NO, JASON, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, WE ARE NOT GOING TO WATCH THIS GUY!
Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, pop punk. Home: Cleveland Poster Position: 15 Both Weekends.
Sunday at 1:45 at the T-Mobile Stage.
Thoughts: Okay. I kinda like some of this guy's business. Real name is Kenneth La'ron, dude is from Cleveland, and his sound immediately made me think of Blink 182. Which I was glad to hear, after lamenting the overall lack of rock and roll on the bill this year. His vocals are pretty yelpy, quite a bit like ol' Mark Hoppus. The top track right now is called "estella//" (all of his songs end with those weird double slashes, because ???), with 10.7 million streams. A lot for something that sounds like warmed over Blink!
The opening guitars sound like Yellowcard, but once the track kicks in, it's pure Blink. Oh, and that's Travis Barker in the car with him and on the drums for the track! Thus, the Blink connection, I suppose. That one absolutely makes me want to pogo around.
The top track, and apparently his first single, is "how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway," which has more of a Cure vibe going on in the opening. 14.6 million streams.
No Travis Barker! That video is super shitty compared to the others here. This was made all the way back in 2020, when he was young and working on his schtick. He hadn't quite figured out how to be a Blink clone yet. "lost cause//," also from back then, also has a different sound - almost R&B like The Weeknd. He has several versions of the track. Together, about 10 million streams.
The most recent one is "hollywood sucks//" which is back to sounding like Blink. 1.2 million streams.
That chorus is great. "Hollywood sucks, can you please move your Prius, you are not fucking Jesus, he hates L.A." Ah, Travis Barker is on that one too. Why is Travis Barker always on this guy's songs? Maybe he just hired this guy to replace Hoppus in Blink but they couldn't get the name rights to?
He's apparently about to go on tour with Machine Gun Kelly (also on the ACL poster) so maybe they'll have a collaboration that people will see who go see MGK suck his way through a set.
But I'd go give this a shot. I'm not deeply in love with it, but I had fun listening to it a few times.
