Recently Why Don’t We came out with their full length album, returning from the nine month hiatus with a new bright sound. The Los Angeles-based boy band grew in popularity over the years and have experimented with plenty of styles. The members include Zach Herron, Jack Avery, Daniel Seavey, Corbyn Besson, and Jonah Marais.
The Good Times and the Bad Ones was released early this month by Atlantic Records. Unlike the previous ones, the band members wrote and produced all the songs themselves. This allows the songs to hold emotional meaning for them and personal memories. Being written in the highs of touring, as well as COVID being a factor there’s a mix of feel good pop and ballads. With their label and staff they had much more freedom to speak their minds this time around.
Fallin’ (Adrenaline) is one of the three singles featured but this song outshined the others. The track showed a drastic difference in style for the boys. Something about it builds anticipation, as it contrasts with the rising synth before introducing member Marias’ soft vocals. All five of the band members learned to use instruments throughout their break, showing this in the sound they chose. Being able to write and produce isn’t too much of a surprise because all of the members spoke about music-obsessed childhoods. Even as teenagers they each spent significant time learning to play instruments. This helped them grasp what we call ‘Pop-Rock’ and pulled it off with amazing melodies. The meaning behind Fallin’ considers the highs and lows of love and what we’re willing to put on the line for that rush.
For you leans more into the generic pop side tying in a message about relationships and missing someone. After starting with a piano that leads into a catchy beat, it soon harmonizes all the vocals in the chorus. Each one of the songs on the album explore different tempos and this just touches on an electric feel. For example, some of the songs had more autotune and voice effects than others. Although it still sounded good the vocals and chorus mixed felt almost non-human like. Grey was the track which brought back the groups stunning vocals and felt a lot more stripped. The song title feels like a hint almost, it expresses the color or view of the world around you. In the boys’ situation It was their outlook after a relationship that was important to them came to a sudden stop. The meaning in the song can be a reliable feeling, as it connects with a lot of people. All the colors that normally would be painted a beautiful scenery around you seem dull and lifeless.
The album as a whole was different, each song unique and a bit disorganized. Still it showed some potential for the band as writers in the future.
