Written by: Ashley Ready
Entertainment, the second studio album release from Houston-based rock band Waterparks, is a fan favorite. The record has it all: sappy love songs, sadboy anthems, and some good old fashioned angst. Much to the band’s dismay, former record label Equal Vision still has rights to the 2018 release.
On November 8th, frontman Awsten Knight tweeted to say that re-recording the album is what he needed to do to make him more comfortable with the fact that the old music he poured so much of himself into is not even theirs. The release was brought to streaming platforms on November 9th. The re-record was not a full album, but a 7-minute track that includes 8 of the 10 songs off of Entertainment. The band and beloved producer Zakk Cervini spent only two days making the track. The result was a totally reimagined version of the album, bringing 8 of the 10 songs together to create a beautifully cohesive song that’s experimental, emotional, and exhilarating.Â
Entertainment 2019 breathes new life into classic Waterparks hits while still sounding like quintessential Waterparks songs, using bass-heavy beats in some of the reimagined songs to change them entirely. Knight has continued to show his love for transitions as he did in Waterparks’ recent album, FANDOM. He sings the songs with seemingly more emotion this time around.Â
The song was released right before the band departs on the US leg of their FANDOM album tour, leaving fans to wonder if this is how they will perform the Entertainment songs live. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, the single was incredibly well thought out, well produced, and a great wave of nostalgia for fans.