Hold On Tight,
Hey Monday
Where to start...the fact this band have jumped straight onto a major, the fact they're about to have the crap marketed out of them just because they have a 'cute' female singer or the fact they're identikit Avril/Hayley alikes riding off the crest of Paramore's wave. I could write an angsty, ranty 'review' discussing the merits of record label cash ins but I think I've set the tone for this review at the outset. I despise men in suits who push music at kids because it sounds exactly like the trends suggest it should. And it's unfortunate for this band because it wouldn't matter who it was, Paramore will take a year to release another record and the labels need a poster boy or girl to sell records to impressionable kids. Step forward Hey Monday.
To be fair to the band they don't really sound like Paramore, or Avril for that matter, at all. But that won't matter as every magazine will make that lazy comparison anyway. At points this is quite listenable. 'Obvious' is a great pop-rock song sung in a pretty bland way. The singer just doesn't have a great voice. It's a bit bland, a bit meh. She doesn't have Hayley Williams' range, let's put it that way. At other points this record is completely dreadful. 'Candles' was probably written by Max Martin but rejected by Britney or something. It's a song I expect we'll see dominate radio/TV but it's nothing short of a pop song. And that's ultimately what Hey Monday are - a pop band marketed at 'punk' kids. So take this for what it is, pop music...and slightly above average pop music at that.
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