MANIA - making the fanbase fall out

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Fall Out Boy’s most polarising release yet, the seventh studio album sees a complete departure from the punk/ rock sound that boosted Fall Out Boy into the popularity they received. This change in genre was not at all sudden with their previous project; American Beauty/ American Psycho presenting a much poppier sound. The album still contains the hallmarks of a Fall Out Boy project with Pete Wentz’s lyrics being filled with convoluted metaphors and strange phrases, despite this the overall response to the album was not overwhelmingly positive at all with many people listing it as one of the worst albums of 2018. While I am not in that school of thought I do believe that MANIA has many pitfalls while managing to produce some interesting and catchy tracks.

The album was announced along with the release of the first singles; Young and Menace in April of 2017 with a release date tabled for September 15th 2017, which was then pushed back to January 19th 2018. It was later revealed that this push back was due to the writing and recording not being finished when the album was announced. Young and Menace was where people’s fears and pessimism about the album behan with glitchy electronics and very little guitars the new sound split fans even after it was announced that it was the most experimental track on the album. In my opinion this track was not only an interesting concept but brilliantly executed with a combination of the rock sound that had filled up arenas all over the round brought to life with the use of electronics contrasted by the slow, almost whispery verses.

Young and Menace was followed by 4 more singles, bringing up the total to 5 singles of a 10 track album, this in my opinion is one of the key flaws with the album. All 5 singles that were released were brilliantly with Last of the Real Ones beautiful piano riff, Wilson’s blend of electronics and guitars in a much more subdue way that really showed how successful Fall Out Boy’s new pop sound could be and the feeling that anything can be done given by Champion. But these songs were released months before the album was released and, at least for me, played very frequently in the build up to the release. This meant on the album’s release these tracks didn't feel like a new sound and the non singles are where the key issues lie with the album. Stay Frosty brought a strong anthemic bass to open the album and Church was a brilliant love ballad but Heaven’s Gate and Sunshine Riptide are where the true weakness shone through, with Heaven being simply bland and Sunshine being a bad attempt at combining Fall Out Boy’s sound with reggae.

MANIA as an overall project is very strong, but not the best Fall Out Boy have made and it’s rocky release led to some tracks being overlooked, leading to the negative reception as well as the move away from the sound that had brought Fall Out Boy their success. Although I do not believe this move into pop sound is an attempt at pandering it can be seen to alienate old fans who have memories of Thnks Fr Th Mmrs and Dance Dance and instead focus on the new generation of angsty teens who are more accustomed to the overproduced sound that can be found throughout the music industry. I will always try to defend this album when criticisms are brought up against it but its flaws are glaring. The direction and audience seems confused but the project shows promise and later tracks on the Lake Effect Kid EP, especially Super Fade show that Fall Out Boy are trying to refine their sound so they album is worth a listen and Fall Out Boy will always be a band to watch.