It seems as if Pete Wentz is finally happy.
He should be. He’s married to Ashlee Simpson and has a new baby boy. But he shows that he’s happier in other ways too: his song writing.
No he’s not writing about rainbows and unicorns; he’s kept his dark side. But on Fall Out Boy’s new album “Folie A Deux” his writing has changed.
The songs aren’t about hating former flames on this record, or about his life as a new dad. With lyrics like “I don’t care what you think as long as it’s about me,” from their single “I Don’t Care”, Wentz writes about his observations of the world as he sees it and makes fun of it.
This record also gets political with the song “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” with the lines “The man who would be king/goes to the desert to sing war his dad rehearsed/came back with flags on coffins and said we won”.
But before you put on your political party hat and start pointing fingers, it’s one song, and it just starts to exhibit the growth the band has made as a whole.
“Folie A Deux,” the Chicago band’s third major label record showcases why Fall Out Boy is one of today’s hottest bands. The band’s collaborations are stellar, with guest vocals from Elvis Costello, Brandon Urie (of Panic At The Disco), Gabe Saporta (of Cobra Starship), Travis McCoy (of Gym Class Heroes) and Lil’ Wayne.
Patrick Stump, who does double-duty in the band as the lead singer as well as the composer, also hits a high note. The songs on this record exposes how much the band can evolve with an ever-changing music business and still come out pleasing old fans and creating new ones.
The songs “She’s My Winona” with a creative key change and “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” with Urie as a guest singer, confirming that Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco’s lead singers do sound similar, show that the band has never changed what made their fans love them before, but still has the ability to create new elements.
The band even kept what fans are starting to call “the standards” in this record. Little things like Wentz’s screaming in a song or two, his “poem” in the first to last song and the inability to understand what Stump is saying make it a Fall Out Boy record even if nothing else sounds like the alternative band.
Perhaps the fact that Stump can hit those falsetto notes is a premonition to the albums success?
Folie A Deux is currently in stores and iTunes.
Fall Out Boy will be playing at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver on April 15.
