WATERPARKS - JINX
Waterparks have never been a band to shy away from things that others might be too afraid to give power to. 2023’s Intellectual Property offered a powerful commentary on religious guilt and trauma, and their sixth full-length album JINX is an elaborate exploration of self-reflection, all dressed up in the band’s usual alt-pop melodies and experimental production.
Having scrapped the original follow-up to Intellectual Property, JINX has been a long time coming, with Knight having spent the better part of three years making sure the album is the best it can be. “My creative competition is me,” Knight says. “And I’m hard to beat.”
Searching for a fresh mindset, Awsten Knight (vocalist), Geoff Wigington (guitarist), and Otto Wood (drummer) disregarded their familiar creative routines and spent weeks travelling back and forth to Long Island with new collaborator Nick Zinnanti to record, with every collaboration, vocal take, and layered detail serving a perfectly constructed purpose.
Knight’s storytelling ability and flair for the dramatic are front and centre from the first note of the album. The cinematic ‘TELL ME WHY’ takes listeners through an exploration of life and death, meeting and questioning God and the Devil through clever wordplay and melodies that are worthy of a full-scale video production.
The give-and-take conversation is held between Knight and featured artists Mark Hoppus, Danny Elfman, Eric Nally, and Dillon Francis, each taking a role in each chapter of the cycle. Knight’s existential crisis is solidified throughout the chorus “If the only point of life is not to die, can you tell me why?”
Lead single ‘RED GUITAR’ continues the self-reflection through a catchy hook and a quintessential Waterparks guitar solo, with Knight referencing the “delusion” of wanting to be a musician since the age of 13 through a conversation with his younger self. The lyrics “wait, is this worth it? / it’s our purpose” already serve as a key moment in Waterparks’ live setlist, with fans answering the question at the top of their lungs.
Knight reveals his romantic side in ‘BETTER THAN THERAPY’, unpacking the intensity of infatuation through layered harmonies and an addictive hook, detailing how it feels to be consumed by a person despite the risks involved, and whilst it might not ultimately be healthy, it sure brings more resolve than therapy.
‘NOBODY BUT YOU’ follows with the infatuation but turns the heat up through an obsessive and euphoric visualisation of all-consuming lust and love. Knight declares that spending eternity with the person still wouldn’t be enough; with the bridge stating he would give up everything to spend just a few more seconds with them.
Waterparks are nothing if not known for writing hard-hitting, honest lyrics and hiding them behind an addictively catchy hook and tongue-in-cheek metaphors – ‘GWEN STEFANI’does exactly that.
Self-depreciation and social anxiety references are hidden behind a fast-paced pop-punk melody, with a nod being made towards the 2020 Instagram live stream where Knight silently cut his Fandom green hair off to reveal his natural brown hair; ‘GWEN STEFANI’ conveys the mental exhaustion of endless pressure, and the juxtaposition of hiding the internal battle behind flashy clothing - “I’m dressed like Gwen Stefani”. Having been reworked from an earlier 2020 demo, and given the life-and-death cycle themes of the album, it’s only fitting that the song was reincarnated with a fresh edge.
‘NO NO NO NO NO’ and ‘PLAYING MUSIC’ both reopen the love chapter, the former continuing the manic obsession into dangerous co-dependency, with the latter acting as a love song for the art of songwriting itself, having been teased in acoustic moments across the Prowler Tour.
‘MIRAGE’ swaps out the guitars for piano and orchestral-worthy intimate vocals, discussing the haunting aftermath of a breakup through heart-wrenching lyrics: “why does time heal everything but me? / it’s a mirage that never goes away”.
Originally formed as a track for Knight’s personal project of video game soundtrack albums, ‘TASTES LIKE TANGERINE’ quickly spiralled past being solely an instrumental and into an alt-pop production of altered vocals and jarring beat drops, with a sprinkle of citrus references thrown in for good measure.
Gut-wrenching lyricism makes a comeback for ‘ANY MINUTE NOW’, opening up about the existential crisis that comes with adulthood after spending your younger years telling yourself that you’ll figure it out eventually. “Even if it seems like people have their lives together, most are just out here doing their best, taking it one day at a time,” the band explained in an Instagram post the day before release.
Rounding out the album is the powerful ‘GIRLS NEED GUNS’, an explicit commentary on women’s rights, abortion laws, and the state of the world through lyrics such as “little by little, one by one, fathers grow to fear their own damn sons”, interlaced with snippets of an honest and vulnerable conversation between Knight and his mother.
Waterparks have created an album that feels deeply intimate, yet larger-than-life. Through hyper-pop lyrics and alt-rock riffs, JINX proves that Awsten Knight’s toughest competition really is himself, and now, the bar is even higher.
Emily Young
★★★★★
