Review Summary: Basically, you’ve heard everything on Crazy World before, but it’s probably never sounded this awful.
I downloaded this album for the sole purpose of seeing whether the horrible ratings given to it were justified; to determine whether
Crazy World is truly that bad. After doing my best to listen to the album with no prior bias in mind, I came to my conclusion: It is. Not only is it 'that bad', it sets a new standard for what 'that bad' is. From the beginning of the stagnant synth line in “The First Time” to the final piano note of “Hey You” I felt like I was trapped in a coffin for 45 minutes, experiencing confusion, disgust and boredom in equally excruciating parts.
It’s hard to think that this is the same band that produced the self-titled
Boys Like Girls back in 2006. It’s not like that album was a masterpiece, but it was a well-executed addition to the radio-pop-punk trend of the time. There was a serious deterioration in quality with 2009’s
Love Drunk and the three years since then have seen further decline. If Boys Like Girls release an album in 2015, a new musical low may be reached. They’d have to start assaulting other senses to get worse, and make an album that not only sounds but also somehow smells like ***. A chilling (yet somewhat intriguing) thought.
For now though, we have
Crazy World, which is bad enough, with its ill-advised addition of country-rock to the band’s sound. None of the 11 tepid tracks stand out. First single, “Be Your Everything”, is a sluggish, tedious, cliché, featuring a barely-noticeable key change that’s just one of the examples of Boys Like Girls’ half-assed attempts to try and inject some significance into their songwriting. In fact, to say the band is half-assing would be an overstatement; an insult to people all over the world who half-ass things and still manage to create somewhat redeemable products.
Most of the time the band rip off superior artists: “The First Time” sounds like Cobra Starship, “Crazy World” sounds like Hot Chelle Rae, “Leaving California” sounds like OneRepublic… you get the picture. Throw in some recent Maroon 5 and some Kid Rock and you have Boys Like Girls’ apparent influences for this album. You’ll notice that none of these artists are critically acclaimed and yet they’re still superior. The embarrassing truth is that a compilation of their hits would be a improvement on
Crazy World, and would probably sound a lot more authentic overall.
It’s not even worth elaborating on stuff like the trite lyrics, bland instrumentation, lack of any hooks and uninspired vocals – whatever fresh-faced charisma Martin Johnson showed on their self-titled record is gone. Basically, you’ve heard everything on
Crazy World before, but it’s probably never sounded this awful. Fingers crossed we won’t have to hear it again.
