By Tori Templet | Staff Writer
After LANY released their album “Mama’s Boy” in October of 2020, many original fans questioned where the band’s sound was headed. As the band released their fourth album “gg bb xx” on Sept. 3, both old and new fans were able to find a sense of middle ground within LANY’s sound.
“Gg bb xx” surrounds the ups and downs of relationships along with growing up and being on your own. The album is structured with the band’s well-known synths, drum pads and the lead singer Paul Klein’s distinct vocals along with a more acoustic feel in some of the songs.
As a fan who has been listening to LANY since their debut self-titled album, I will say that this is not their strongest release. LANY released this album only 11 months after “Mama’s Boy,” which was honestly the biggest letdown of an album in 2020. While there are some really strong songs on this album, some felt rushed.
Although there can be label deadlines and other factors for a release, I still think they did not take enough time on some of this album. Songs like “one minute left to live,” “live it down” and “never mind, let’s break up,” feel empty and unfinished either lacking in instrumentation or strong lyrics, or even both.
“Never mind, let’s break up,” is lyrically cheesy and fairly basic yet it has a catchy melody. I find that in many of LANY’s more popular songs they cover their lack of lyrical strength with their addicting synths. However, this is not to say LANY does not have any strong lyrics.
A highlight of the album that actually brought me to tears was their song “somewhere.” It focuses on growing on your own and finding where you are going without anyone beside you. Lyrically, this song takes the cake for the best song on the album. There is so much comfort and encouragement in this song for all the college students who feel like they do not know what they are doing or where they are going as they grow up.
This album brings out LANY’s original sound along with hints of “Mama’s Boy” through their more acoustic songs to find a sense of equilibrium. The standouts to mention within this album are “care less,” “up to me,” “get away” and “dna.” Along with those, “dancing in the kitchen” was LANY’s first single for “gg bb xx” and now sits at the No. 2 spot on their Spotify profile with over 23 million streams so far.
Although this album does not compare to their debut album or “Malibu Nights,” I do think this album holds its own. There are some really strong aspects to this album that “Mama’s Boy” was severely lacking. After having this album on repeat for the past week, I will now be going to try and reclaim my LANY shirt I donated to goodwill a few weeks ago.
