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Paramore
Brand New Eyes
Fueled By Ramen
out September 29th
65/100
[Rating Scale]
[rating:65/100]
I swear, a Fueled By Ramen record contract must come with a songwriting instruction manual written by Pete Wentz—and Paramore has followed the manual to the letter with its new album, brand new eyes, out September 29th. The album, like every other Fueled By Ramen record I’ve ever heard, is full of catchy hooks, slick production, shout-along choruses, clever lyrics, and a healthy dose of pop-punk energy. As such, the album isn’t much of a departure from the formula that brought Paramore success with its two previous albums.
So the question now is: Does that get you excited? Or were you hoping for something more? If you just loved the first two Paramore albums and want more more more, then by all means, go pick up brand new eyes immediately. If you were hoping for some new directions, some experimentation, perhaps a departure or two, you won’t get it from this album.
Still, with each new Paramore record, we realize anew that while the music is quite formulaic, within the narrow confines of their genre these kids can write songs. As the Official Fall Out Boy Songwriting Manual demands, at any given moment in every song, there are at least two interesting things going on: guitar hooks layered on top of guitar hooks, nifty drum tricks, huge dynamic and tempo shifts, and through it all, Hayley Williams is singing, pleading, and shouting with that powerful voice of hers. (And for most of the album, Williams vocals are accentuated even more by the fact that she’s singing in triplicate.)
Even the slow songs on brand new eyes, “The Only Exception” and “Misguided Ghosts,” are tender, well-crafted tunes that act as breakers for the pop-punk waves to crash against.
The uptempo songs range from the ferocious (like opener “Careful” and knockout first single “Ignorance”) to the anthemic (“Turn It Off,” “All I Wanted”). Paramore has 10 adequate choices for a follow-up single to “Ignorance,” and while none of them stand out as a ready-made radio hit, I’m guessing you’ll be hearing a bunch of them in heavy rotation throughout the next year.
The kids in Paramore have shown they can write catchy tunes, and that they can adhere to the pop-punk formula that moves records and sells summer festival tickets. But is that enough? Should we be expecting more from them, album after album? Should they be transcending the (generally unimaginative) pop-punk genre, instead of symbolizing it?
brand new eyes is a fun bunch of songs, and we’ll enjoy it as such. But perhaps in a couple years it’ll be time to expect more from this obviously talented band. Fueled By Ramen’s songwriting manual will need to be updated by then anyway.
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hey if certain ppl dont like the songs on the album they dont have to listen to them.there are plenty of ppl including myself who love this album and the band.so dont leave your negative comments.
Agreed. Same 'ol Paramore… sounds like it could've been the double record to the last record.
Nice review Kyle. I'd say 65 is fair. It's not a bad album by any means… just not all that exciting.
It's more of the same from Paramore, and I like it. That may just be the fact that I love me some pop-punk. In the end, this album is nothing amazing or great outside of the pop-punk arena.
Agreed. Same 'ol Paramore… sounds like it could've been the double record to the last record.
Nice review Kyle. I'd say 65 is fair. It's not a bad album by any means… just not all that exciting.
It's more of the same from Paramore, and I like it. That may just be the fact that I love me some pop-punk. In the end, this album is nothing amazing or great outside of the pop-punk arena.
I'm glad you didn't give this album an inflated review. I've been hearing people saying this album is a classic and I was getting worried that my ear was missing something. They're definitely mastering their niche, but it's pretty much what I expected from them.
Careful: could be on riot, nice album opener though
Ignorance: misery business 2.0, equal worst song on the record.
Playing god: sounds like a fall out boy song.
Brick by boring brick. quality song, too bad they didnt have the balls to have it stripped down, the acoustic version is better
Turn it off: generic. the last 42 seconds should have been more of the record
The only exception: sounds like something panic at the disco wrote around the time of pretty odd. too repetitive.
Feeling sorry/Looking up: generic pop-punk songs. sounds like new found glory (i wonder why) the end of looking up is pretty cool i guess
Where the lines overlap: live version is so much better, i dont know why the studio version is so weak.
Misguided ghosts: top song, probably the best on the record
All I wanted: stole the intro from coldplay Fix You, repetitive lyrics, good vocals though
Decode: equal worst song on the record. why is this even a secret track? i would rather a track that didnt make the cut. seriously if twilight wanted evanescence why did they get paramore?
65 sounds about right. good that sounding more like their first record. that said, its on par with shitty riot.