May 12th 2022
Damn, just... Damn.
Well color me confuzzled. I thought I had this one figured out, it seemed clear that Dom was going and pulling from his influences and inspirations, we heard some David Bowie, Nirvana, Billy Idol, a dash of The Cure and a pinch of MCR between the last two singles, Fleabag and The Funeral, both very rock sounding and personal feeling tracks. But I suppose having expectations of what's coming next from him is the quickest way to get proven somewhat wrong. Memories follows a different path in many ways. It’s hard to explain, because he doesn’t quite have any other song like this one, which is a good thing.
It starts in on an acoustic guitar with Dom delivering the chorus one time, then starts in on the verse with a low, layered and graveled verse that hits hard right out the gate, accompanied by a killer bass and the drumbeat cracking and snapping like fuckin pop rocks (known better as “popping candy” to some). Gives out a little of that Die a Little Darkness, and the tone of Fleabag and The Funeral’s vocal perfectly combined into each other as if designed to set you on fire. Then you get (bear with me if proper terminology ever/always goes out the window), what I think is a guitar line through an EXTREMELY badass pedal, but could be a vocoded vocal loop or synth, that is quite honestly one of the best melodies/guitar lines I’ve heard in the past few years, it reminds me a bit, tone wise, of the synth/modified guitar line from the breakdown in the Architects song “Little Wonder”, and it lands a little spine chill when it starts up, every time.
The song does not fuck around, we get the chorus about 7 times, because its short, sweet, and catchy as all hell, and both a full verse and prechorus from Dom and Willow, both of which are some of the best vocals they each have delivered, and neither verse leaves you disappointed in any way, they both had a verse that felt right with their voice. Willow sounds so angry that I honestly felt that drop in the pit when you realized “Oh damn, they actually are pissed for real, and you aren't getting out of this unscathed”, the song sounds like its talking to you, or its directed by you at someone else, and even looking in the mirror at yourself as well, and may I say, that is quite a refreshing perspective, fits the intended tone perfectly. It has a nice little sweet and sour guitar line between the second last and last chorus that plays out the vocal melody as the background vocals are layering in a nice snarky “la,la,la” just underneath it. And the song goes out after that the same way it came in
Definitely the "pop radio - friendly" single, its that shorter runtime thats been creeping up on us over the past decade, and definitely that nice balance between Rock and Pop, but it does not lack what seemingly is the mandatory amounts of heart, quality, and fun that Yungblud brings to every song, and I’m just gonna come out and say it, this is my favorite perfomance from Willow ever. I love that really slick, drawling “I don’t give a fuck” tone she often uses, but this felt vulnerable, exposed, and desperate. This, to me, sound like it’s Willow in her bedroom after a shitty day, screaming along to Fall Out Boy or My Chem, and some miracle led to it being recorded for us to hear. Speaking of which, I’ve never done a deep dive into her music, and this song is the perfect inroad for me to do so, so expect some Willow reviews in the near future
To Conclude: Dom has shown that he expresses himself in music the same way he does in general, everyday life: Unapologetically, every part of himself on display for everyone to see, because he knows that if you aren’t gonna accept him or you try to put him in a box, you aren’t worth his time. And of course, I now have to go down the rabbit hole of Willow’s discography.
My Rating: Like I said in the first review, there's 0, F, 50, D through to A with plus, minus, or neutral grades, and 100, which means this song is so good I’m surprised the universe allowed it to exist. I am giving Memories a grade of...
100, instantly, no questions asked. I cant wait for Yungblud to announce this third album, because as some of you may know, some similar artists, like MCR, Palaye Royale, and Fall Out Boy, released their third albums, and those albums were The Black Parade, The Bastards, and Infinity On High. Just Sayin’.
Bye for now,
-Tyler
Yungbluds Info:
Willow's Info
PS: One more thing. https://twitter.com/yungblud/status/1524446517507112960, this is a link to a tweet Yungblud made yesterday. The night before he played a show in Poland, and a year ago he said that when he went back to poland he was going to paint the rainbow flag on the streets, in solidarity with the people there and their struggle. Last night, Six paintbrushes, Six Cans of Lead Paint, with everyone there, he paints each color on the street, one by one, and yells to the people there and the world that everyone should be proud of who they are, and never apologize. It is without a doubt one of the greatest things I have ever seen, Dom always says that Yungblud is a family, and yet again, he proved that right there on the road. Dominic Harrison is a shining example of what we as the human race could improve to be, and if we can all be a little more like him, then the world will be a whole lot better.
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