a fair shot?
I’ve loved fun.’s debut album, Aim and Ignite for a while and was looking forward to their new album, Some Nights, which came out on Feb. 21. Listening (belatedly and then repeatedly) to “We Are Young” for the first time after hearing that it was in a Super Bowl commercial raised expectations higher.
Not digging the album, though. I held off on writing about it and kept listening, in hopes that it was just a case of not immediately adjusting to a band’s new style. No such luck. I read that the band was heavily influenced by hip hop on this album. I like (some) hip-hop, but not hip-hoppy fun. songs, I guess. Maybe this will change.
A semi-stream-of-consciousness track-by-track review:
“Some Nights” (intro) — So very overtly Queen-ish. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” mostly. There was a good deal of Queen influence (a good thing!) on Aim and Ignite, and this song gives false hope that it’ll make its way onto this album, too. Nope.
“Some Nights” — The livestream of the album featured a live comment feature, where someone wrote “It sounds like The Lion King!” I’ll try to ignore the painful “I’m old” fact that this preteen girl was not even born when The Lion King first came out and just wholeheartedly agree with her. Still a bit of the Queen influence from the intro, too, at least until the T-Pain effect starts.
“We Are Young” — Raved about it earlier, and still love this song. I can’t help it; the chorus gives me chills. Every time. It’s a little bit “Empire State Of Mind,” a little bit “We Are Golden” (Mika), with a ton of piano (I love me some piano) and more orchestral flourishes thrown in. All-out unashamedly bombastic, sure, but it has its intended effect.
“Carry On” — Understated, compared to most of the rest of the album, and maybe the most old-school fun.-ish of any of them, with its singalong chorus, orchestral layers, prominent guitar, and blissful lack of obvious T-Pain vocal effects.
“It Gets Better” — Can’t figure out yet if they’re trying that kind of “it gets better” message, or if this is about something else. (As a side note, I do love that the band is such a vocal ally for LBGTQ rights. More bands should be like this.) The beat is catchy, but it sounds like it’s targeted to a much younger audience. Very mall-pop-punk. And the auto-tune. Oy.
“Why Am I The One” — Vaguely New Kids On The Block-ish during the chorus. We have the return of highlighted piano, which is nice, as are the NKOTB harmonies. But where are all the layers of orchestral effects that were used so expertly on Aim and Ignite?
“All Alone” — More 80s sound, very boombox-y and with some hints of video-game music at the end. Refreshing lack of autotune in comparison to some of the other tracks, but pretty repetitive. (“I feeeeel so allll alooone.”)
“All Alright” — “Alright” is not a word. Moving on. Overall, there doesn’t seem to be as much storytelling on this album as on the previous one. Lots of earnest talk about feelings, but fewer characters and less lyrical complexity. Sometimes, I can forgive all the clichés (like in “We Are Young”), but in a song like this, there isn’t much else to make up for it.
“One Foot” — I can’t decide if the horn loop thing is nifty or annoying. Same with the stammering-style chorus.
“Stars” — A mini-musical in itself? Switches up styles, at least. Starts to sound a bit like Discovery’s “Osaka Loop Line” in parts, especially in the first verse. The second gets a heavy dose of autotune, which somehow works better in this song than others. Strings! We all know how I feel about those. And then children’s voices? And out-of-control screechy distortion (that goes on way too long)? This really is the “kitchen sink” song.
“Out On The Town” (bonus track) — Doesn’t seem to “flow” well. I guess the stuttering percussion effect was intentional and is part of the old-school hip-hop influence, but it makes listening to the song a sort of nervous experience.
“We Are Young” (acoustic version) — I thought I’d love this one, but it loses a lot of its kick in this version. On the plus side, it places emphasis squarely on the lyrics, which are among the most interesting on the album (during the verses, at least). Love the “friends are getting higher than the Empire State” line.
All in all, I’ll only be buying one song (to enjoy in its full 256-kbps, iPod-able, car-listenable glory, and Spotify will be enough for the rest. And probably almost definitely, considering they’re now sold out, not going to their upcoming shows at Terminal 5. Look at me, being all harsh. (I still like your first album, fun.!)
