Tag: Panic At The Disco

#MusicMonday: Panic At The Disco’s Pray For The Wicked will take you to the church of rock and roll

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

Oddly enough, the first album I ever reviewed on this site was a Panic at The Disco album.

Panic at the Disco are back with their sixth studio album. Fronted and held on the shoulders of original band member Brendan Urie, Pray For The Wicked actually has a lot of personal notes from Urie regarding his time on broadway, his Mormon roots, and his now simpler life married to his wife Sarah.

Pray For The Wicked was released on June 22, 2018 with one of it’s singles making the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The album peaked at #12 as a whole.

Song by Song Review

**** a Silver Lining: A song about wanting to excel at everything and wanting to get the best out of every possible situation, with the musicality of a song you may hear in a 70’s roller rink. Centered around such common phrases such as, “every cloud has a silver lining” and “cherry on top,” the former means that every difficulty or setback that causes harm also contains the potential to be positive while the latter refers to something good that follows a series of other fortunate events.

Brendon flips these idioms on their head, endless cherries and a silver lining aren’t that enticing to him. One of my favorite lyrics from the entire album is below: pablo (36).png

Say Amen( Saturday Night): A fun electro-pop track with a sound effect that sounds like gnashing teeth that comes a song about those who parade around in religion and use God to judge everybody. Urie was raised Mormon but wanted to write a song without making a dig at anyone who worships and praise, and prays regularly.

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Hey, Look Ma! I Made It: A tongue in cheek celebratory song about finally tasting lasting success. It has a big band musicality that makes you want to dance. Urie tips his hat to his mother, and reflects on his journey to success, examining the thirst of record labels for new material and the quest to avoid people, who only want to be associated with him due to his fame.

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High Hopes: My favorite song on the album for it’s overall message of seeking your dreams without hesitancy and seeing those dreams come to fruition beyond your wildest imagination. I also love the big band mixed with electopop sound to this track. This song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

High Hopes Music Video

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Roaring 20’s: The musicality of this track mimics that of a speak easy in the 20s or 30s. Urie who was raised on musicals recently got a starring role in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots playing Charlie Price.

Dancing Is Not a Crime: This light-hearted song showcases the purities and youthfulness of young love, with simple things such as dancing with someone or being their boyfriend or girlfriend.

One of the Drunks: This track explores the consequences and downfalls of the party lifestyle. It discusses in a very blatant manner and it talks about how we as a society really celebrate an excess of drugs, alcohol, all this stuff, and how we don’t need to binge and go crazy on shit. Ultimately, the endless cycle of alcohol and parties is fruitless.

Overpass: Catchy big band musicality that reminisces a “Bonnie & Clyde” feel paints a track about a relationship that has been torn apart but is longed for. He proposes they meet  at “The Overpass” where they can truly be together and who they are. Musically, it contains samples of Chase by James Brown.

King of The Clouds: Styled in 6/8 time signature comes a dreamy track that explores the ideas of inter-dimensional travel & multiverses.

Old Fashioned: A nostalgic track about reminiscing being young and having time to kill, such as the teenage years and good times with booze and medication. He is envious about the wasted years with alcohol.

Dying in LA: A piano track with somber musicality describing the struggle of someone who came to LA to pursue their dreams, but ended up unsuccessful. It shows how many are captivated by the glamour & opportunities of the city when they first enter, only to be slowly broken down over time. It paints the picture of a person slowly losing hope and becoming who they promised they would never be in the city of (broken) dreams.

 

 

 

 

@PanicAtTheDisco’s Fifth Album #DeathofABachelor Knocks One Out of the Park

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

I’ve been listening to #DeathofABachelor since it was released a week ago on January 15, 2016. I’m talking, I’ve only been listening to that album for a week straight. When I workout, when I shower, when I’m feeling like giving up on this thing called life. I already know all the words, and I’m totally stoked that Panic At The Disco is back, and badder than ever!

In case you don’t remember who Panic At The Disco is they are an American Rock band from Las Vegas, NV. The only member of the band that hasn’t changed is lead vocalist and multi-instumentalist Brendan Urie. The rest of the founding band members have been replaced since the band first started in 2004. They are most known for their single off their first studio album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” which was a Top Ten hit single despite being the band’s first single ever released. It was later certified double platinum.

In 2006, the band lost its original bassist and found that with their second album, Pretty Odd, their sound had changed. This lead to principal writer Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker, leaving only Brendan and Spencer Smith as the bands only remaining members. This didn’t leave the band in disarray for long because they picked up and released their third album, Vices &Virtues in 2011.

In 2011, the now three member band (Dalton Weekes, Spencer Smith, and Brenden Urie) released their fourth studio album, Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!. In 2015, Spencer Smith left the band and Dalton Weekes became just a touring member, leaving Brendan as the only member left.

                Death of the Bachelor was solely written and recorded by Brendan Urie. The album is written based on his current lifestyle with wife, Sarah Urie.

Song by Song Review

“Victorious”: The first single off the fifth album is like a musical cue similar to that of a champagne bottle popping to celebrate big and small victories in life. Writer and vocalist Urie said that when he recorded the song, he almost passed out from that note he holds during the beginning of the song.

“Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time”: This track is definitely a continuation of the party theme from victorious but has very blunt lyrics talking about all the ingredients to a good time including: “champagne, cocaine, gasoline, and most things in between…” Urie claims that that specific line was considered problematic by industry executives but he kept it because it reflected the lifestyle of being young, how they chase that feeling and it’s never enough. This song reminds me of the movies The Hangover and 21 and Over.

“Hallelujah”: Urie claims this song was written while drinking scotch in the studio, and it’s just a bunch of drunken ramblings. It definitely has a “Take Me To Church” feel and utilizes a trumpet in the beginning of the track which again gives it and old-timey gospel feel.

“Emperor’s New Clothes”:  This song has a royal theme to it; my favorite part of the track because it’s one of my favorites is the “finders keepers, losers weepers” throughout. The track is one of my favorites because it’s the most rock-and-roll track on the album.

“Death of A Bachelor”: Has a Sinatra, jazzy feel to it. It features a melotran track playing in the background. Urie explains the track as quote, “Death Of A Bachelor” is very important to me. It expresses the bittersweet (but mostly sweet) end of an era. A look back at a part of my life now deceased. An “It’s A Wonderful Life”-esque look into a possibly different future. But mostly an appreciation for the present.” For me, the track reminds me of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World because it has a breakdown that sounds like music you’d hear in Mario Kart or a video game in general.

“Crazy=Genius”: Most definitely, my favorite track on this album because people call me crazy all the time but musically I love that the drum beat from this track is the same from “Sing Sing Sing” by Benny Goodman, which was featured in a Chips Ahoy! Commercial back in 1990’s.

“L.A. Devotee”: A track that’s musically in three different keys, E-minor, E-major, and F-major, it talks about the people of Los Angeles; How they always have a new fix to make them ageless and beautiful.

“Golden Days” A track written to emulate Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas” with use of a cymbal during the chorus of the track. Lyrically, it holds a lot of descriptive imagery and is a good example show, don’t tell.

“The Good, The Bad, The Dirty” A track that talks about the judgements of other people and how you have to fight past that in order to know who you truly are. Musically, it has a pop-rock sound. My favorite line: “If you want to start a fight, you better throw the first punch, make it a good one.”

“House of Memories”: A track that was originally written on piano, it has an evil composer sound to it. Lyrically, it’s about his life with his wife Sarah.

“Impossible Year”: The only track I can’t bear to listen to on the entire album because it just has a weighty, woe is me feel to it. As an optimist, I shy away from songs like that because if you aren’t careful they can put you in the wrong mindset. Musically, the track has EDM style swirls throughout.

Death of A Bachelor may be Panic At The Disco’s fifth album but it stands apart from the rest because not only does it have hip-hop, pop, and rock musical stylings but it proves that rock and roll is still very much alive. Panic At the Disco just announced that in 2016, they are heading out on tour to co-headline with fellow rock band, Weezer.

References:

www.twitter.com/panicatthedisco