Written by: Jaclyn Allister
Most bands wouldn't think of releasing an album in the span of a few hours but then again, Waterparks isn't most bands. When Awsten Knight challenged fans of the pop-rock trio to get this tweet to twenty-thousand likes, it only took a six hours for fans to hit the goal (Thanks Elijah Daniel!) that was deemed impossible. After that, it was only a few short moments before a nine song album of unreleased demos were uploaded onto the band's SoundCloud account.
The first track is titled "Noise" which was originally leaked on August 14th, 2018 via an instagram live. It was a song that quickly picked up steam among the fandom directly after the band's summer long stint over Warped Tour. "Teenage Jealousy" is the signature pop with hip-hop influence that Knight had quickly become known for since the release of Fandom. The song references a song both off their debut record "Double Dare" and their sophomore album "Entertainment" while throwing a less than small amount of shade to his ex-girlfriend, Ciara Hanna. "LIFE IS PUKE (20,000)" acted as more of an introduction to the songs with enough disbelief and word vomit to remind you of not only how how endearing Knight can be but how he's always thinking ahead.
"Read My Mind" is one of the songs that was unfortunately sandwiched in the middle and likely to be overlooked despite the fact it belongs in every indie teen movie for the next decade. "Glitter Times" was another fan favorite leaked through social media although this time, Knight took to Twitter to post a clip of the song on November 26th 2018. The neon-pop sound is vaguely reminiscent of early Forever The Sickest Kids. My personal favorite of the batch is obviously the one closest to the group's pop punk roots, entitled "Perfect Posture." There is a guitar solo right before the bridge that I can only describe as electrifying.
The only other song that had previously been leaked was "Lemonade" which had most fans thinking it was more of a Felony Steve song than a Waterparks song. Many people including seemed to prefer the vaguely "Double Dare" reminiscent "Sorry As I'll Ever Be" as opposed to some of the poppier counterparts. The final track is a slow but soothing end to a rollercoaster of emotion that goes by "Last Heaven" and ultimately sounds like a techno lullaby in the best possible way. It's entirely possible that this song was referenced in the code of the Waterparks website prior to the release of Fandom as this song was on what was believed to be the tracklist. Waterparks continues to push the limits, play by their own set of rules and keep listeners on their toes. Which song was your favorite? Let us know below!
Streaming Link: https://t.co/aSjGEija9K?amp=1