A DAY TO REMEMBER – YOU’RE WELCOME
Fueled by Ramen, 2021
Pop rock, pop punk, easycore
Easycore was a weird moment, wasn’t it? Somewhere in pop-punk’s resurgence in the late ’00s to early ’10s, someone dared to ask what would happen if they made pop-punk with breakdowns, and the rest is history… literally. Now, about a decade on, the scene has all but died save for a couple of the bigger bands. Which is honestly a shame as I happen to really enjoy easycore. Four Year Strong’s self-titled album is full of bangers and A Day to Remember’s Homesick was a hallmark album of my early college years. If anyone knows about any bands that are keeping easycore alive, please let me know. Because, from the perspective of a (mostly) outside observer, it seems like the genre is barely hanging on anymore. And I think A Day to Remember recognizes this. You’re Welcome, their latest album, contains a lot of experimentation with various brands of pop rock in what feels like an attempt to figure out how they can stay relevant at this stage in their career. I can understand why they’d want to do this, and it’s a mostly noble effort, but I feel like the results are mixed at best.
The biggest problem, to me, is that there’s not a lot here that really feels like A Day to Remember. This album feels like a band who doesn’t know who they are trying to find what sticks to get airplay. Which is more disappointing when the band in question has an established identity. I’m not opposed to bands experimenting and branching out in to new things, but the attempts on this album ultimately feel weak. I mean, “Bloodsucker” sounds like Imagine Dragons, “F.Y.M.” sounds like WALK THE MOON, and “High Diving” sounds like fun. with heavy guitars. And it doesn’t stop there. Some songs just give off a vibe that feels familiar, but in an unoriginal way. “Resentment” and “Looks Like Hell” almost sound like Christian hard rock, a genre notorious for chasing trends (and I swear the latter sounds like a Switchfoot song). Other songs like “Only Money,” “Everything We Need,” and certain parts of “Degenerates” sound painfully generic. Some songs even have moments that feel like they could have been co-written by Jack Antonoff, which makes sense when you consider the fun. comparison from earlier.
But similarity doesn’t have to be a bad thing. “Viva La Mexico” sounds like it might have been inspired by one of the goofier pop rock bands from the mid-’00s like Fountains of Wayne or Bowling For Soup. But the band brings their easycore edge to the track and it ends up being one of the better tracks on the album, and one of the very few where I can tolerate listening to the whole thing. Similarly, “Re-Entry” feels like a classic blink-182 song with an ADTR flair, and it, coupled with “Permanent” feel like the most like ADTR on the whole album, and we don’t get them until the final quarter. But these are really the only bright spots among all the issues mentioned above and others like “Last Chance To Dance (Bad Friend)” being a borderline nu-metal song, as if to prove that they’re still heavy, and the rest of the songs on the album being largely forgettable.
While You’re Welcome is a disappointing album, it’s not a complete failure. Despite their familiarity, songs like “F.Y.M.” and “Everything We Need” are undeniably catchy, and A Day to Remember does manage to put an imprint on certain tracks that is undeniably theirs. “Degenerates” is, literally, half a good song. And once again, I don’t fault bands for trying new things. When you come from a sub-genre that’s such a flash in the pan like easycore, you don’t really have a choice if you want to survive. The problem is when the attempts feel so mediocre and half-assed, especially when you know that a band is capable of doing better.
4/10
Continuous Thunder 