Review Summary: A perfectly penned diary that many teens can relate to.
Emo Classics Series: Episode IX
In this series, I’ve previously discussed various kinds of Emo landmark that emerged from the 2000s, ranging from acoustic delight (
Dashboard Confessional’s The Places You Have Come…), straight-up riff-heavy pop-punk classics (
Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American and
Paramore’s Riot!) to political statements (
Thursday’s Full Collapse), bloodshed diaries (
The Used’s self-titled album and
My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers…) and stormy melodramas (
Brand New’s The Devil and God… and Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends). This time, I decided to take a look on an album that is more stripped-down pop-punk, yet still exhibits every single essence of an Emo classic, and that album is none other than
Saves The Day’s breakthrough album, Stay What You Are, as it contains various topics to offer, from interpersonal relationship issues, social commentary to universal anthems and diary lyrics, all the while remaining the true essence of punk.
This album has much to offer. For instance, vocalist Chris Conley presents emotional poems about romantic issues that many teenagers can relate to. With his boyish vocals and exquisite lyrics, Conley sings songs about your romantic issues, from drunk hookups (the honeyed “Firefly”) to problematic romantic relationships (“Freakish”, the sing-along highlight “Jukebox Breakdown” and the satiric crown jewel “Nightingale”) and the aftermath of the breakup (“Certain Tragedy”) that is eligible to be in your diary, it shows that describing romantic issues in a song is nothing wrong per se, it just requires very well-crafted lyrics to flourish them. With lines such as the confronting “And all you want from me is a broken heart” (from “Jukebox Breakdown”) and the sardonic “And I hope your majesty that you like your position” (from “Nightingale”), you will either feel being related to your own romantic breakdown and burst into tears or feeling guilty for being responsible on the downfall of the relationship, all the while being astounded by Conley’s simple yet clever songwriting and headbang at the punchy punk rhythm of the songs.
Meanwhile, Conley showed himself capable of penning universal themes in this album, evident in songs such as “Cars & Calories” and “This Is Not an Exit”. The organ-laden former of which is more of a social commentary on celebrity culture, where Conley sings petrifying lines such as “Her life was magazines and faithful TV screens”, “Living out all her dreams” and the chorus “And it took bites out of her insides /’Til she was just a hollow shell”, helps listeners realise such toxic phenomena isn’t just consuming them back financially, but mentally as well; the similarly sunny latter, on the other hand, is an anthem for living your life to the fullest, as Conley sings empowering lyrics such as “Tonight will be the night that we begin to ease the plugs out of the dam” and “And as the curtain falls, just know you did it all /The best that you knew how and you can hear them cheering now”, it proves that uprising anthems don’t have to be just the lame “you are who you are” and “you can do it” message, while proving the gentle telling that doing your own best and let go your past burden can also be a good material as well. With luminous delivery and razor-sharp lyrics, Conley really showed what universal songs are in the punk-pop genre.
But, Conley himself is also capable of penning darker themes as well, with songs such as the suicidal lament “All I’m Losing Is Me” and the dead friend elegies “As Your Ghost Takes Flight” and “At Your Funeral”, showcased these significance. In the first song, Conley described himself being in a waste dump, while described some tar on his mouth and a piece of glass on his back, and speaking to his friend that he or she can watch him disappear in this world, which is perhaps a horrifying metaphor for him to die; the second one, on the other hand, is perhaps a letter to his friend who struggled with heroin addiction, where he morbidly mourns that he should bring a hammer and some spikes to nail the friends’ body on the wall and mentioned that he would drink the friend’s blood, showing that Saves The Day have already constructed darkly morbid themes beautifully accessible before MCR made it; the last one is perhaps a cherry on the cake among the tracks and the most well-known song in their catalog, where he was warning the same friend to realise the drug addiction is doing him no good(“If I flooded out your house, do you think you'd make it out❓/Or would you burn up before the water filled your lungs❓”), and trying to help him from such misery as a very good friend, evident in the chorus line, “And at your funeral I will sing the requiem /I’d offer you my hand /It would hurt too much to watch you die”. Even though the themes in this songs are macabre enough to raise eyebrows, the band seems to turn them into poppy sing-alongs and allow many to relate to these themes with very little effort, while cementing Conley himself as a gifted lyricist.
Even though there are no weak songwriting in this album, there are, unfortunately, flaws in the album that cannot be unseen. In fact, the album is a bit too songwriting-based that the songs lacked the powerful background sound and the bigger sing-along hooks to complement the emotional lyrics. Sure, there’s nothing wrong to have a
Ramones-like stripped punk sound per se, and the fact that the band already shifted their style from being power-chord based to a more intricate compositions, but in the Emo scene, having an explosive dynamic and powerful pop hooks are almost quintessential in the genre itself. However, this can also serve as the silver lining for some serious listeners, as they can simply focus on Conley’s highly refined lyrics and his youthful and honeyed vocals, instead of being distracted by the pounding guitars like some contemporaries do, while singing the lyrics without being conscious about it.
In short, this album may lack the explosive pop hooks like most peers deliver, but with the superbly honest, clever and vivid lyrics, relatable themes and the pitch perfect vocal delivery, Stay What You Are is nonetheless the benchmark of punk-pop and even the Emo genre. It’s a shame that Saves The Day could not attain commercial heights like some peers such as JEW did, because this album showcased every bona fide of the punk pop genre just like Bleed American did bar the powerful pop hooks, and set the base for future generations to replicate their formula. If you want an album for you to snug into a corner to listen to and get emotional instead of blasting it for you to jump around, then this album is for you.
