The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
If you want the daily schedule post, look below at those tabs or down and to the right at the September posts. Have fun!
One Liner: Truly great emo-indie by two younguns who harmonize with feeling Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie Home: Atlanta Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 17 Day: Sunday Weekend Two Only.
Tito's Tent at 2:45.
Thoughts: I sort of wanted the punctuation in this band name to be more like Hey! Nothing. So that it was like someone got mad and then realized that everything was cool. One website I found claims that they are emo-folk, and that they have grabbed notice from NPR, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and more. On Reddit, they called themselves "the handsome boy band," but from listening to the voices, it sure sounds like a boy and a girl. Maybe it is a guy and a they. Whatever, some of this is quite great. The tune on right now, "Ur Purple Eyes" is drawing me in with a wistful beauty. And then "Black Bear" is goofy and funny and pretty heavy. That is their newest single and it jams.
Their name is apparently from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, because a character in there asked to be called by their name, or nothing at all. Not sure I get that - how does "hey, nothing" match up to that statement? They described their own music as "Alternative/emo/folk rock that will make you not only laugh but also cry." They cite Grace Vanderwaal and 21 pilots as the artists that made them think they could do the musician thing.
One album - 2023's We're Starting to Look Like Each Other - and then two EPs - 2024's Maine and 2025's 33 degrees. The band called out "Maine" and "Too Drunk to Drive" as their personal favorite songs to play, so I feel like we need to get to those. But "i haunt ur dreams" is the top streamer, so let's kick it off there.
Goofy little nugget, makes me think of that Moldy Peaches thing from the Juno soundtrack. Very lo-fi and pretty silly. "Maine" is the top song from the EP of the same name. 7.4 million streams, and apparently written in one of their grandma's houses in Maine.
Live version, but you get the idea. Beautiful song with good harmonies and a melancholy vibe. Giving me goosebumps right now when they kind of kicked it in. Damn. "And I can't wait not to go home,
So far away from everything I know, Is it okay for me to feel close to a place that I barely know?" That is a freaking good song.
They didn't steer me wrong there, so let's see how they do when they are drunk? "Too Drunk to Drive" is from the 2023 album. I was going to do another live version, in part just because they look like they are 12 in it, but I wanted better sound from the real version. 5.6 million streams.
Definitely a happier tone - I don't want to spend another second without you babe! Sort of a strummy R.E.M. vibe to that backing tune. Good stuff too. This one is a definite yes on my scorecard. Dig it. WEEKEND TWO ONLY CAN BITE MY BUTT! DANNGIIIT!!!
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: Whack ass combination of metal, country, and emo Wikipedia Genre: Metalcore, hard rock, electronicore, post-hardcore, acoustic (sure, yeah, why not?) Home: Columbus, Ohio Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 9 Day: Friday Weekend Two Only.
Lady Bird Stage at 3:30.
Thoughts: I said the name of this out loud as I typed it into Spotify, only then realizing that this was likely a play on Bill Murray. I am very confused by the first tune and it's thick riffage, but that also sounds very much like a current country song. Is this the first metal country song? I know we've done country rap and country rock, but now we've got some gnarly riffage to go with it. And those drums - I don't know what to call that tangled little drum fill that metal dudes use at the end of verses, but that is well-represented here. See what you think with the terribly named "BETTER HELL (Thicc boi)" - 14 million streams.
That bro doesn't look like the voice at all. He is also terrible at mowing the yard - no pattern at all. Oh, he doesn't even have the handle down that keeps the motor running. This video is built on a foundation of lies. But I will admit that the song kind of makes me laugh for a sec.
Johnny Franck, also known as Bilmuri, is this dude. His Wikipedia says that he was formerly the "clean vocalist" and rhythm guitarist for Attack Attack! before he left to start a new band called The March Ahead. I am unfamiliar with the term "clean vocalist" but it apparently means, in the context of metal music, that he is the guy singing in a normal, clear, natural voice, as opposed to the Cookie Monster ass guy doing something extreme to get the nerds turgid. The top ten "clean singers in metalcore" does not include this gentleman. Loudwire seems to tell me that Bjorn Strid, of Soilwork, is the finest in all the land. Sure. Sometimes he goes into the screamo stuff though, so he's not always clean.
Wikipedia claims that Franck left Attack Attack! to focus on his relationship with God. And sure enough, in 2013 his new band played at Liberty University and then he gave his testimony to the audience and fielded questions. So, there is a good chance this dude stormed the Capitol on January 6.
He says his influences are Enter Shikari and Forever the Sickest Kids. I feel like he made up those band names to sound cool.
Fascinatingly, he has released approximately four million albums since 2016: Jaguar Shark (2016), Bilmuri (2016), Letters (2016), Frame (2017), Banana (2017), Solid Chub (2018), Taco (2018), Wet Milk (2019), Rich Sips (2019), Muri and Friends (2020), Eggy Pocket (2020), 400Lb Back Squat (2021), Goblin Hours (2022), and American Motor Sports (2024). The majority of the most popular songs on Spotify are from that last album - most of his early albums don't have anything that cracks a million. One exception is "Near" from 2016's Letters. Let's check that one out. 12.6 million streams.
More of a pure emo/metalcore lite thing. Never been my taste, that sort of whiny soft-loud emotive stuff. His next one with a stream count over ten million is called ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF'INHOG. Which is a sweet title. Sounds like terrible Post Malone trash with the riffage. Very bad music. The track from that same album - 2020's Eggy Pocket - that edges that one in streams is "FLUORIDEINTHEHARDSELTZERWATER." 10.8 million streams and just an exhausting title.
This is all like a joke that gets old the second it starts. I totally agree that it is funny for a second. Like, the kind of thing where a friend is like "oh man, you have to check out this hilarious band that is half metal and half country and half emo" and then they start it and are looking at your face as you listen and you have to provide a wan smile and nod your head a little and be like "yeah, man, funny stuff for sure, bro." And he won't stop watching you listen and so you have to swallow your own tongue and hope to die.
I super did not listen to all of these songs. I did the top ten twice and that early one up above, but please. I'm only a man. If I keep going I'll die.
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.
One Liner: Art-noise-type aggravating rap and post-punk emo singing dreck
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is rap and post-punk-emo Home: Chicago
Poster Position: 25 Weekend One Only. Saturday at 11:55 am.
Miller Lite Stage.
Thoughts: Ugh. The ACL lineup over the years has forced me to listen to things like this before, and I resent them for it. Mostly, this is the kind of thing where it sounds like a rapper collaborated with a free noise art app to make the least pleasant things he could come up with and rap/scream over. Like he thinks he is Tyler, the Creator, but just super is not. Then he also does those sorts of emo post-punk guitar things like that awful Travis Barker protege who was here a year or two ago. Kenny Hoopla. The Spotify bio says he is Nigerian born and Chicago raised. Not quite as awful as that Death Grips thing from last year, but in that wheelhouse. I want it to stop.
The best things in his Spotify are when it is someone else's song and he just appears to mess it up. My work computer is not allowed to access his website because it is blocked. That is scary. Real name is Godwill Oke, and he apparently went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He built his own home-studio setup in his room when he was 14 years old and spent hours teaching himself how to produce things.
His first few tracks, back in 2020, are unformed little minute long messes. "Mortal Kombat" actually has a pretty tight beat and flow over it. But less than 20k streams means it never went anywhere. No real albums, a couple little EPs that collect prior singles, and that is it. The top streamer is a 2023 one called "call and i'll answer." 491k streams.
Sorry that Kenny Hoopla ruined any sort of crappy auto-tuned emo guitar rap move for me, but it is the way of life. Hard no here. Here is "supernova," with 233k streams.
I'm sorry you have to go through this, but I did, so now you're stuck getting this garbage shoved into your brains. I hope you recover quickly. Luckily, because he is in tiny type at the bottom of the Saturday lineup, he'll be hitting the stage around noon and I won't be there! Good luck!
One Liner: Strained yelping on the otherwise rocking emo tunes isn't it for me
Wikipedia Genre: emo, post-hardcore, indie rock, alternative rock, spoken word (?!?)
Home: Rancho Santa Margarita, California
Poster Position: 10 Weekend Two Only. Saturday at 2:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: Generic ass name. Two other bands have been called Movement in the past, and a bunch of albums and songs have been called the same. But this is a emo/ post-hardcore band from California that veers too often into a screamo mode. They formed back in 2015, although their founding guitarist left the band in 2016 before their debut. Not a lot of biography in their Wikipedia entry, more about when music was made and released.
Three albums - 2017's Feel Something, 2020's No Good Left to Give, and 2023's Ruckus! That newer album is definitely the loser as far as stream count goes - it looks like the emo revival may have been done by 2023. Their tops songs by a long way were on that first disc. "Daylily" has 63.6 million streams.
With bands like this, and definitely with this band, I generally like the actual underlying music, but I just really do not like the vocals. The start of the song is great, but then they start the Dashboard Confessional strained-voice-yelling in the chorus and I'm immediately turned off. But the tune itself is nice. That album also has hits in "Full Circle" and "Colorblind" and "Third Degree," all of which top their streaming numbers. Just so you can hear their more recent sound, here is "Lead Pipe" from the newest disc - 5.3 million streams.
I would have believed that this was a Fall Out Boy with the start of that tune. Literally sounded just like them until he started the strained yelling and breathy bits. But the discordant guitar rock and thumping bass is fun times. Because they are relatively high on the poster, it makes me think that they were an emo darling back in the day. Not my music style, so I don't know. I will pass on seeing this one happen live.
One Liner: Pop punk and emo heroes coming back for another round
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, pop punk, pop rock, power pop, emo, new wave Home: Franklin, TN Poster Position: 1 Both Weekends. Sunday.
Thoughts: Totally off my radar. I mean, I had heard of them before they hit this poster, but just a band that somehow slipped entirely through my periphery. For example, their top song on Spotify is new to me. Somehow it has 477.1 million streams, and was released in 2013, and yet I have definitely never heard it before. Which just seems really weird when I am an alternative rock kind of guy. No clue why.
Their most recent album was back in 2017 (which is interesting, right? Where is the new music?) and I reviewed it back then.
Paramore - After Laughter. Paramore is a funny band. In my mind, I think that they are a lot harder than they really are - pop punk with some screaming. Maybe their older tunes were a little bit harder, but now this stuff is pure pop rock ready for all the dancing you can fit into your pants. Hell, just sitting here listening to this album again I'm grooving around in my desk chair and unable to stop myself from thrusting my head forward in an uncomfortable turtle bird dance. Just try listening to "Rose-Colored Boy" and keeping still. If you can do it, I'll give you ONE AMERICAN NICKEL next time we see each other in real life. Unless I don't have one, in which case you can get one for yourself and then remember that I gave it to you each time you see it.
FYI, their Spotify bio right now is a terrible thing probably written by a PR firm and it makes me want to die, but the current playcount listed by Spotify means they are the greatest band in all of history. Literally, it says "6,087,1242,351,093" [sic] monthly listeners. I mean, 60 TRILLION monthly listeners is pretty amazing. Hot damn. Thinking this was a typo, I checked Taylor Swift's count, and she has 315 TRILLION monthly listens. Holy Hannah. Anyway, I digress. These tunes have a little worldliness to them, in the way Graceland or Vampire Weekend have a lilt of world music poking into them, but overall it is power pop rock stuff that is crazy catchy. The top song is one that is reminiscent of their prior big hit ("Ain't It Fun," which is a legitimately fun track), the album opener, called "Hard Times." [now at 308.4 million streams].
Like I said, power pop with guitar. Snappy as hell, very fun, even if the music behind it is pretty basic strum and drum 80's disco-fied rock. I enjoy it. These are the best songs on this album, others are slow and maudlin (looking at you, "26") full of violin swells and lyrics about dreaming. But other tracks, like "Caught in the Middle," which are like funky No Doubt outtakes, are more fun again."
Prior to that 2017 album, they had been releasing music since 2005. Hayley Williams is the lead singer and the one you always hear about when people talk about this band. Drummer Zac Farro was also a founding member, and the only other OG member still in the band. Guitarist Taylor York was a high school friend of the others and joined in 2007. Their first album apparently did really well in the UK, but it wasn't until the sophomore album that they blew up.
Williams moved from Mississippi to Tennessee and met Josh and Zac Farro at a thing for home schooled students. They were making music in various bands - Williams was actually already signed to Atlantic as a solo artist. The label wanted to turn her into a pop princess, but she fought for the right to be in a rock band. When the band was originally formed, Zac Farro was literally 12 years old. The band name came from the maiden name of the mother of one of the original bass players, but they also liked the idea of the similar word meaning "secret lover."
Just before that first album, Jeremy Davis (bass) left the band, and it apparently devastated the band enough that the cover art of the first album is related (showing an empty couch with the shadow of someone walking away?). But then he came back later. But then they kicked him out again later. But then they got him back again.
2005's All We Know Is Falling definitely has some of those screamo moments that I must have been thinking of when I thought they were super hard. "My Heart" has Hayley singing pretty stuff up front, but in the background there is definitely someone shredding their vocal chords. The top track from that album is "Pressure," with 52.1 million streams.
Yesssssss, look at those haircuts. Jamming in an industrial space! Chains! Super skinny jeans! Kick moves! This is a very perfect early-oughts emo rock video. Good, not great, song. But the disc got them a slot on the Warped Tour! Sounds right.
2007's Riot! was where they hit their stride. The band was nominated for Best New Artist after this (lost to Amy Winehouse, which, sure), and the album went Platinum in the US. You can tell that they are signed to the Fueled by Ramen imprint, as this has a little bit of that Fall Out Boy sound (and some oddly long song titles). They had some troubles here, in part because the rest of the band was aggravated at the media's focus on Hayley Williams. The album has their biggest track too - "Misery Business" with 521.4 million streams.
That track rings a bell for sure, I think they still play that one on the radio. That girl kind of overreacted about her hair getting cut off, but that lady is really not very nice. But then I absolutely did not expect that the resolution of her being a rude person would be that Hayley would reach into mean lady's dress and remove her nipple covers from inside of her bra. Very surprising fight move. Never saw that in the halls of Austin High. "crushcrushcrush" and "That's What You Get" were also big hits from this album, but they don't right a bell. "When It Rains" kind of has a Taylor Swift vibe. "Fences" has a poppy fun to it.
2009 brought us Brand New Eyes and a few more big hits. The sound is pretty much the same, but their fame was exploding with an opening slot for No Doubt, an opening slot for Green Day, and an MTV Unplugged episode taping. The biggest track on the album was "The Only Exception" with 301.2 million streams.
Lovely tune. Much less aggressive than the rest of the album. Almost feels like a cover song. But also, lyrically, its a great tune too. "Brick by Boring Brick" seems like a good live tune that includes a soccer chant-sounding refrain. "Looking Up" is a low-streamer that made me look up from work to check it out, I like that one. But, again, some trouble in paradise. Right around now, the Farro brothers left the band, with Josh saying that the band was a "manufactured product of a major-label" and that everyone else was just riding Hayley Williams' coattails. (which, uh, duh. You are a super generic guitar player who sounds like anyone else on the planet, and she's a star. No shit, kid).
2013's Paramore was the first to hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and "Ain't It Fun" is definitely the song I know this band for. Won the Best Rock Song Grammy in 2014. Strangely, "Still Into You" has more streams, but I think you should hear the winning song. 349 million streams.
Goofy, but that video made me grin. Fun tune - some poppy, discofied rock and roll. You literally cannot tell that the original guitarist is gone here. "Future" has a good extended, sludgy jam in it.
Wikipedia claims that a sixth album is in the works right now, so we might get a new disc to try out before they show up in the fall. I'd definitely go see them, but being that they are right before either the Chilis or Kacey, I'm not sure that I actually will. We shall see.
One Liner: Overly theatrical rock and weirdo stuff from Phoebe Bridgers' old band.
Wikipedia Genre: Punk rock, avant-punk, avant-rock, post-punk, chamber pop Home: NYC Poster Position: 20 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Well, this is freaking weird. Makes me think of some of the deeply weird stuff that Nirvana or Primus might have done back in their heyday of weirdo alternative rock. The top song is just not a normal experience at all. I know that is the point, but remember how dumb the Marilyn Manson stuff started to seem when you really thought about it? That is sort of this. "They're Coming to Take Me Away--Ha Ha!" has 2.3 million streams.
Right? It's like some hidden song at the end of a Primus album. Although the video is kinda freaking me out, man. But here's the deal - this is her top song? Would anyone want to hear this played at a festival? At all? Nope. Now, some of her other songs are snappy and have some action to them, but that most popular track ain't it.
In fun trivia news, Wikipedia says that Phoebe Bridgers used to be the bassist and backup vocals in the band. That's pretty sweet, but also a bummer, to lose someone that talented from the band! The front woman is named Haley Dahl, and she apparently does a little performance art with her performances that can include some birthday suit action. Maybe they signed up the old band as a mea culpa for cutting the mike on Bridgers last year when her set went over.
Like, "Where's My Wife" - which very much sounds like it could have been a Nirvana track from the Bleach days - is a pretty solid rocking tune. 142k streams.
Sloppy is right, but can't you just see/hear Kurt Cobain squealing those lines as the band broke all of their instruments? And then, her most recent single, from 2021, is an actual song. Like, normal chord structure and harmonic singing and stuff. "Party Anthem" has 338k streams.
She still needs to do some weird overacting things in there - I get the idea that she did some theater in high school. "Jesus on Your Living Room Floor" is also a normal, quiet, dramatic tune.
The 2015 EP Sure-Tuff is the one with Bridgers on it, and also the Coming to Take Me Away song, it is super weird stuff. Definitely a bunch of slop, lots of vocal effects and muddy sounding music that's almost like if Hole did surf rock. Don't love it. "Scratch n' sniff" is probably the best, drops out a lot of the crappy vocal effects for a dark and groovy tune. The new disc from 2021, Madison, definitely has a more pleasing sound that doesn't sound like a goofy lark by a kid who just found a Fisher Price microphone that transmogriphied her voice. Although the opening "Overture" definitely reminds you that you are about to listen to something overly dramatic and weird. "Wonderama" goes back to that same well. Funny thing is, now that they reduced some of the freakiness of it, the music is just more boring. "Lullaby Formica" just sounds uninteresting, as an example. Also, "The Constable" is freaking 9:34 long. GTFOH with that.
Sorta interesting for bits, but overall I don't expect I'd go watch this one.
One Liner: Ex-Mormon rocker with a face like a pincushion.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - hard rock, goth rock, emo, grunge Home: California Poster Position: Late Addition Weekend One Only.
Friday at 3:15 on the BMI Stage.
Thoughts: Immediate thought during the first track is that this is for sure a TikTok artist. The first track has 93.5 million freaking streams, and only one other even cracks a million. She only has seven total tracks on Spotify, and two of those are alternate takes of the other tracks. Here is that big one - "Violent."
Ew. Well that was creepy. Its kind of a pretty song, but the imagery provided along with it is certainly not pretty. Unless you're super goth and scary and into scary shit. This is called a "cathartic trap-acoustic pop song" in one article I read.
Real name is Thea Taylor. She was raised in a strict Mormon family, one of ten kids, in southern California. Home schooled, and it sounds like she moved around alot by high school because she was in five different high schools before just dropping out entirely. She learned music by playing with her family members, and in one interview says that she wasn't allowed to use headphones because her parents wanted to hear what she was listening to. That would have severely stunted my musical growth in high school. If I knew my mom was listening to "Sir Psycho Sexy" or "Big Dumb Love" every time I was, it would have definitely limited my enjoyment of those songs.
She finally rebelled, got into punk, made multiple pilgrimages to rehab, and picked up the guitar for herself. The name really is from her mom - she says no one is better than Carole
And, I was right about that song above. Here is the quote:
"When a follower on her TikTok asked the artist to make the track available on the app, she obliged. Before long, the song was everywhere, soundtracking 300,000 videos on TikTok to date, including clips from popular creator @scoobiezoobie and pop star Madison Beer. Ironically, the track almost didn't make it to streaming: she had built the song on top of a random copyrighted beat she found on YouTube and, because of that, at the time couldn't even upload it to Spotify (where, a year later, it has since been streamed nearly 60 million times)."
"Brat" is horrible. Like, absolutely just terrible. Releasing that into the world is a war crime and a violation of the Geneva Convention. "Porcelain Jesus" also unpleasant, but not quite as much. Her most recent single is the other one I'll leave you with though, this is the pleasantly titled "please put me in a medically induced coma." 975k streams.
Nope. Absolutely not on board with that one. More of the pop punk that this festival is embracing this year, but I'm not on board with the lyrics or the music in that one. Seems like she's just trying to shock value, and doing it over a very generic REBEL tune borrowed from Avril Lavigne's b-sides. Just no thanks.
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: (look at this list!) emo rap, trap, indie rock, pop punk Home: Vermont and Massachusetts Poster Position: 14 Weekend One Only.
Friday at 2:30 on the Honda Stage
Thoughts: Joseph Edward Mulherin performs under this happy moniker, mainly making unhappy emo rap tracks that include good times lines like "i don't give a fuck if you hate me or "losing you's a win/win, i don't need a fake friend." Lots of guitar in the mix for some of these, so it almost sounds less like rap and more like emo rock, but the lyrics are pretty clearly more like rap. He's got KennyHoopla on a track, so maybe he also has Travis Barker on all of these tracks like that guy. Apparently not, but they did do a collaboration together.
In 2017, the New York Times called this guy's album Reaper "one of the most promising pop albums of the year." WTF, old grey lady. Really? Also, Wikipedia mentions that he has sometimes debilitating depression and anxiety, which led him to cancel a string of shows in 2018. That sucks. Wild to become a touring artist with anxiety in your makeup. Like, singing in front of a crowd has to be the most anxious thing around for many people.
His newest album, joyfully titled Trauma Factory, starts with a spoken word intro by some grizzled, unhappy man who lets us know that life is a trauma factory. Then we go right into "lights (4444)," which is also not a very happy experience. "imma go my own way, i don't give a fuck if you hate me." But the beat is kinda snappy! "upside down" has a happy sounding track for sure. Most of the beats on the straight rap tracks on this album are relatively generic. Some 808 thumps and trappy little snaps over the top - listening to "exile" right now and it's just boring. Maybe it's supposed to sound ominous and spare, but instead I just want him to quit saying "yeah." "death" is an actively terrible track, like a super shitty NIN track. But then a lot of the songs are more Blink-ish with guitar and drums. The overall feel of the album is all over the place - no two songs sound exactly the same - you might hear Blink 182, or Nine Inch Nails, or Fall Out Boy, or Sum 41, or whatever other yelpy emo rappers exist out there. "fake friend" (heavy on the pop punk feel to me, and pretty catchy) and "nightmare" are the two top tracks on the album, here is the latter with 9.8 million streams.
It's fine. I can see pogoing to it in a field and singing about how you want to break stuff because your girl has a new guy. But nothing about it feels particularly new or interesting to me. It just dawned on me that people who like Machine Gun Kelly might really like this - maybe that is how this dude is on the bill, seeking out other rap/rock/emo people to gather together.
Interesting thing is that despite the NYT thinking Reaper was some sort of classic, no song from that album makes n,n's top ten songs. One track features Dashboard Confessional and cracks the 13 million stream zone, but most of them are in the 5 million-or-less stream zone. But, this is a much more cohesive album - the songs almost all aim for an emo rap feel. "Clarity in Kerosene" is the top one after the Dashboard collab, with 8.8 million streams.
I get it. I can absolutely see a 13 year old, messed up over some relationship, playing that song over and over and wallowing in his broken-heartedness. And singing along about hoping that she dies with him on her mind. Childish fantasizing about jilted revenge. The next song is called "Funeral Fantasy," which is more of the same - "if I die would you even cry, would you weep, would you keep it on the side." Dude is deep in his feelings. Next song is all "all I think about is YOOOOOUUUUUU!" Funny thing, the track on here that drops the rap feel in favor of heartfelt singing, "Marykate," is also the least streamed one of the album. This would not have been named a top album of 2017 for me.
I'm good without seeing this live. Feels like it would be me stuck in a field with a bunch of sad teenagers crying about broken relationships and then trying to halfheartedly mosh against each other to escape the pain.
