Candy Hearts – All The Ways You Let Me Down
Review by Trevor Figge
Candy Hearts released their sophomore album All The Ways You Let Me Down, or as I will call it “They Let Me Down” this past Tuesday. Now all bad jokes aside, I find it important to preface this review by saying I will look at this review from two stand points. My typical cliché ‘Pop-Punk elitist mentality, as well from an unbiased stand point and just review the album as it stands.
The first track that you hear is “I Miss You”, a cute pop tune that makes dance like Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle. This track maintains the ability to gain traction with both Pop-Punk fans and with mainstream Pop radio (much like Paramore’s “Aint It Fun”). The rest of the album follows suit transitioning from one adorable and quirky song to the next. Mariel Loveland’s (lead vocals) voice is reminiscent of when the infamous ‘baby voice’ that everyone does whenever talking to a baby. It’s cute, memorable, sweet, and works for Candy Hearts.
The album is not a ‘Pop-Punk’ album per-say, it’s also not a ‘Pop’ album; rather if I had to qualify it, I’d say it’s a PowerPop album. Now I know that this may seem like a degrading term, but I do not mean it in that respect. Rather I label it as PowerPop, because at its best this album is a very good PowerPop album. All The Ways You Let Me Down, has catchy choruses, makes your toes tap and head nod along. But, at its worst, it is a mediocre Pop-Punk album that will undoubtedly fade into the void of half-hearted attempts to do tribute to the 90’s. All the while trying to fill in the void that Paramore left in the scene when they ‘sold out’ (aka became popular). So in conclusion, Candy Hearts put out a good PowerPop album, however the best part of the album in my opinion was the final track when Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory laid down guest vocals.
Overall Rating: 2.5/5
Recommended Tracks: “I Miss You”, “Top Of Our Lungs”, “Coffee With My Friends”
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