WATERPARKS - FANDOM
After months of hidden codes and subtle hints, Waterparks are back with their third full-length album, Fandom. Find out what our favourite tracks are, and whether you should #streamFANDOM or not.
This past week, Waterparks released their third full-length album Fandom, the follow up to the recently deleted Friendly Reminder. Expanding on the themes of their previous albums Double Dare and Entertainment, Waterparks suggest you listen to the album without social media and the lights down low.
‘Cherry Red’ was told to be a mistake by frontman Awsten Knight. “When I was making the demo, the files got messed up, and the project was compromised, so I got all the pieces of that song, and dragged them back into place, then I hit the spacebar and everything played at once and that what it was,” he explained in an interview.
Containing a lot of new aspects for Waterparks, like new synths and electronic sounds, singles ‘Watch What Happens Next’ and ‘Dream Boy’ have been their biggest tracks for the record until now.
‘Easy To Hate’ is without a doubt a favorite and brings back memories of pop earlier this decade circa 2011. Knight also gives a nod to his heterochromia in this song, singing ‘My blue and green they turn to red’, also referencing a song on their earlier EP, Cluster, tilted ‘Mad All The Time’.
One of the outliers on this album is ‘High Definition’. With an auto-tuned voice, Knight sings about his relationships and how tiring it can be to him, adding how hard it can be in a touring band and be in a relationship with lyrics such as “I know I’m not around to make me worth the wait // it’s like who wants to be close with someone who always goes away.”
Giving a break from the seriousness of the album, ‘Group Chat’ is fourteen seconds of the band just having fun. However, part of me thinks kind of turns away from the flow of the album, and would’ve been better placed somewhere else.
‘Never Bloom Again’ is an acoustic track which offers a refresher upon first listen, and ‘I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Want To Die Anymore’ isn’t what most people would expect it to be. In this track, Knight offers up some honesty as he sings about some of the struggles he faces with the fanbase, and how he cannot trust certain people around him.
Every album from Waterparks has that one song that just goes off, and for Fandom, I believe ‘War Crimes’ is it. Everything from the bassline, to the way Knight presents his voice is great. The chorus reminds me of late 2000’s rock, but when the second verse hits, and the build up to it is just astounding.
‘Worst’ is the song every Waterparks fan has been waiting for. Knight made the song by himself and uploaded it back in 2017, with the idea of it to never end up on an album until now. The song is reimagined from its original acoustic version which can be found on YouTube. I feel the voice memo of Knight right before the second verse was a very good touch to this song, and definitely sent me to tears upon first listen.
‘I Felt Younger When We Met’ is the last track on the record, and reminds me of Entertainment song ‘Stupid for You’ in the sense that is sounds pretty boyband-ish up until the chorus. Knight delivers a powerful chorus in this track, however I do think this track ended abruptly in the middle of a line which caught me off guard. I think this track is the perfect one to end the album with, however, if you have your album looped, you will see that this song interludes back into ‘Cherry Red’ seamlessly.
If you’re looking for a semi-short album, this is a good one for you. Waterparks are very capable of making a concept album, and that’s something I would very much like to see from them. With Knight’s way of writing, and all three of them on instrumentals, it would be a pretty interesting project. The album, musically and lyrically is outstanding, however, there are still those small things that sort of pull away from the overall flow of the album, such as ‘Group Chat’.
Alex Davidson
★★★☆☆