This album starts off on a weird note with “Dream Of Mickey Mantle”. We go from an intro that’s more of a bizarre sound collage than anything to a pretty straightforward pop track for Jack. Like, this is alright and all. But in this case, I feel like his influences come off way too much, to the point where this comes off as an mediocre Bruce Springsteen cover. Which I usually would totally be fine with and all, but there’s no meat to this whatsoever. When it picks up, there’s really nothing anthemic or explosive about this one at all, not to mention it’s sort of lame. Deep down, “Dream Of Mickey Mantle” does have some more anthemic lyrics, but the instrumentals are just sort of ok. This is far from the start I wanted to hear. Up next we have “Goodmorning”, which is more or less stripped back piano pop. Which once again is totally fine, but Jack’s influences are shining way too hard. I mean this is a Bleachers album, not a Harry Nilsson cover album (Which I totally want to hear now, thanks Jack). Once again, I don’t think the overly obvious influences are a bad thing, but I just feel like Bleachers isn’t the sort of project I want to hear a quaint pop song from. Jack can write pop anthems, we know that for sure, but that’s been absent for far. So no, “Goodmorning” really isn’t what I want to hear. However, “Hate That You Know Me” is exactly what I do want to hear. This is just a straightforward catchy pop track. Ironically, this comes off a whole lot more personal and emotional than some of the softer tunes that he felt the need to start off this album with. “Hate That You Know Me” is absolutely gigantic. It’s catchy, it’s bombastic, and it has still a slight awkward vibe to it, but I feel like the latter actually gives this a more human feel to it. The backing vocals give this one a seriously epic vibe as well, which goes great with the serious old school tinge this track has (Any fan of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “EMOTION” will instantly dig this). Then we have the even more gigantic “Don’t Take The Money”. There’s still a huge retro vibe to this, but there are just enough modern elements to this that make this one pop HUGE. When Jack hunkers down and really brings his A game, this guy can write a near perfect pop song with a gigantic hook. The choruses on some of these tracks, especially on “Don’t Take The Money”, are some of the best Pop choruses I’ve heard all year. Also, the FUN. influence is seriously coming off more and more by the minute. The beat here is driving, Jack’s vocals are fantastic, and it remains pretty damn personal. Tracks like this is where Jack shines the brightest.
“Everybody Lost Somebody” starts off with some more of those weird vocal samples that I continue to not really understand and totally aren’t that necessary. But for a slower track, this one is seriously powerful and fantastic. The FUN. influence continues to be almost overwhelming, but I wouldn’t say thats a bad thing. I still feel like Jack’s personality and emotions just come out so much better in these Pop Anthems. “Everybody Lost Somebody” is also still very much so structured like an 80’s vintage pop tune, but it gives these tracks a seriously cool vibe. But that’s where most of my fun stops sadly. “All My Heroes” is up next, and right from this very stripped down intro I had a feeling this one would be a whole lot more underwhelming. And what do you know, it seriously is. This one, outside of the pounding drums that pop in momentarily, is the blandest and most boring track I’ve heard here yet. Jack here doesn’t really sound nearly as confident in his vocal performance, and I feel like his lyrics aren’t presented nearly as well as they do on bigger cuts here. And it’s not even like slower and softer tracks here don’t click with me, cause that last one was great. Thankfully, Jack does get right back into major Synth Pop mode with “Let’s Get Married”. This one is much bigger right from the opening notes. Jack’s vocals here are seriously passionate, especially on the gigantic chorus. There’s a very timeless feel to “Let’s Get Married”, once again I feel like Jack is covering some 80’s mega hit even though he isn’t. I still feel like some of the vocal snippets here and there aren’t really necessary, but overall this one is fantastic. It’s catchy, it’s memorable, it’s also just the right about of sweet. But then Jack breaks into “Goodbye”, and I feel like I’ve stumbled across some seriously cheesy mid-2000’s R&B/Pop Rap crossover. Obviously Jack isn’t spitting some bars here, but that’s absolutely what I’m getting from this beat, and no I’m not into it at all. Jack’s vocals aren't terrible, but I feel like we’ve gotten such more memorable moments on here. Plus, the massive amount of vocal sampling is distracting as hell. Not to mention, I feel like there’s more auto tune here than on the last Future album, no thank you Jack. Once again, these smaller, quainter sounding pop tunes are missing the mark completely.
Now while this album has been all over the place, Jack still has some serious tricks up his sleeve. “I Miss Those Days” is up next, and just from he opening bells and big sounding riff I’m completely invested in this one. It’s moments like this that I feel like Jack is so good at getting his point across. Outside of that, as a songwriter he just comes off as stellar as I know he can be. The horns are gigantic, the drums are intense, and Jack’s performance is passionate as hell. If we’re getting another Bleachers album in the future, Jack needs to seriously stick with Pop anthems. If he came out with an album strictly like this, it would be monumental. Because seriously, “Nothing Is U” is up next and it’s just so boring and awfully bland. Were once again dealing with a very retro sounding track, but this to me just comes off so much less interesting. It’s just so cheesy, not to say that there hasn’t been cheesier moments on this album’s biggest songs, but they were presented so much better. Even when those pulsating synths and drums come in, “Nothing Is U” is so much less interesting. Then we have the unbelievably sloppy “I’m Ready To Move On/Mickey Mantly Reprise” which right off the bat just sounds all over the place. Jack’s performance here is one of his most awkward yet. Like, how the hell did this track even make the cut? Like, I’m into some pretty far out there and weird stuff, but this track has absolutely no structure to it. I guess things do get a little bit better when some of the later instrumentals come in. But still, Jack really let his guard down on this one. Plus, why the hell is this track 5 minutes long? I would have been SO much happier if this was just a reprise of the earlier tracks for it’s entirety like the final minute or so becomes. This album ends off with “Foreign Girls” which starts off with some really weird, almost avant grade trumpet instrumentals and some heavy vocal effects. But I wouldn’t say this is that bad, it’s certainly more ear grabbing and Jack has certainly gotten back into the groove of writing great hooks. Now I wouldn’t say this is as commanding or as catchy as earlier tracks, but this is a decent ending for Jack. This album overall proves to us that Jack is clearly incredibly talented as a song writer ,but he really needs to hunker down on certain things. He needs to keep the instrumentals big and gaudy, because that’s when he ends up getting his personality and feelings across best. To be honest, “Foreign Girls” is far from a bad finale. But why in the hell does he continue to come back to this lackluster refrain from “Goodbye”??
Rating: 6.7/10
Give A Listen To: “Hate That You Know Me”, “Don’t Take The Money”, “Let’s Get Married”, “I Miss Those Days”
Overall Thoughts: Going into this album, hearing those first few singles, I thought this album was going to be to die for. But quickly it became evident that THAT wasn't the case. The singles here are bombastic, and some of the best Pop singles you're probably going to hear all year. But some of these deep cuts are some of the most boring Pop tunes I've heard all year. It's often not a writing issue, Jack's almost always pretty solid when it comes to that. But some of these more Piano Pop songs come off so awkward, and Jack on more than a few occasions has his influences way too much on display. It has moments of serious brilliance, but overall this album was disappointing.
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