Review Summary: Ronnie Day debuts his musical career with "The Album," a copy-cat attempt filled with over-done emo themes that we've heard too many times before. Sorry Ronnie.
Ronnie Day (not his real name) follows up his debut Nine Sleepless Nights with The Album, a collaboration between Stacy Jones, Bill Lefler, and Day himself. The album was – shockingly – fueled by Day’s 3-year relationship disintegration, an event that he declares "Hit me like a bat to the balls." Well, lets hope for some better quality in the album. The Album cracks off with the singular upbeat tune, "Halfmoon Bay," an acoustic track with a pop chorus that seems to make a happy day seem sad. "Coming Home Soon" finds Day declaring (in another acoustic track with a pop chorus) that "Breathing is just a luxury for me." This seems to be taking a downward turn.
"Live Learned Love & Lost" begins to deal with Day’s break-up in an acoustic track with a pop chorus: "I walked through the coldest night / I sat by your house under a street light / And you pulled up and he kissed you at the door / Who’s this guy and why’s he with my girl?" Oh dear. Day declares that he is alright though, and now "free" of her, yet still wants "The world to know that Jamie broke my heart." "Living for Love" and "Outside" are yet again about relationships, and the cheery titled "Heroes Die" complains that all role-models abandon you.
In fact, the majority (read: all but 2 or 3) of the songs are about relationships. Ronnie Day puts a whole new spin on the word emo…and the word boring. Every song sounds just like the last, except for the slight variation on lyrics and – if we’re lucky – subject choice. While taken individually the songs are nicely written (especially the radio-ready "Written at a Rest Stop") and the lyrics are quality emo, when all 16 are put together it turns into a train-wreck that’s not even fun to watch. Sorry to hear about your break-up Ronnie, but don’t take it out on your listeners.
I always thought emo was for emocore, the really hard stuff from the 80's. Fugazi, Rites of Spring, etc. As in, these bands got emotional during their performances for their hardcore bands.
Many bands that transitioned from the early 90's off the 80's emocore phase and into the later 90's, they would drop their hardcore sound but were still labeled as "emo" because of their publicity. So their new sound became "emo" as well, and so if a band had similar sounds, they were lumped into that category. So when music became softer, more dramatic or had lyrics about heartbreak, it was "emo."
So, it wasn't just "emo" music evolving, it was a misconception.
It's in reference to a lot of bands, like the vocalist, getting really emotional when performing live. As opposed to playing it straight, they might get really into it, being angrier, crying, etc.
