AJR’s ‘The Click’ Album Review

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Sarah Lefkowitz

This past weekend, AJR made us weak in the knees and fall for them at Quinnipiac’s annual Fall Fest. This sparked my interest in giving their second album, The Click, a listen. Upon my first listen, I immediately heard the familiar synthesizer and percussion sounds of Jon Bellion.

The album opens up with a song called “Overture.” This song is basically the blueprint to the entire album, as it samples pieces of every track. It brings new sounds to each song, as well as mashing them together. The trio is best known for their big singles off this album called “Weak” and “Sober Up.” The track was released as a single in 2016 and it entered the Top 100 in various countries, including Canada and Italy. It features falsetto vocals from Jack as well as big electronic drums. “Sober Up” opens up with a grand cello solo. Once it reaches the chorus, listeners are expecting to hear a beat drop, but instead get another cello solo. As the song progresses, more instruments can be heard behind the vocals. The song also features vocals from Rivers Cuomo, the frontman of Weezer.

“Netflix Trip” is a super interesting song. In this song, Jack relates milestone events in his life, to the show, “The Office.” Such events include the death of his grandmother, and his middle school graduation. Another song that stands out is “Three-Thirty.” This song takes a look at how our generation can’t focus on just one thing, as we are stuck in an era of instant gratification. Lyrics like “Listen to my aching heart. Quick, before you skip the song,” show the band asking for listeners to actually give them a chance and try to hear what they are trying to convey.

The piano-driven song “Turning Out,” is the slowest song on the album. In this song, Jack sings about how perceptions of love in media, specifically Disney, don’t appear to be true in real life. He sings about how he is still growing up, and learning about love. On “Come Hang Out,” Jack sings about he has made music his number one priority. He sings about how he missed his prom to appear on Elvis Duran’s show and how he doesn’t see his friends very often as he wants to focus on music in order to become more successful. The bridge of this song seems to encompass what this album is all about. Jack sings, “Should I go for more clicks this year? Or should I follow the click in my ear?” The first ‘click’ he refers to is the click onto a website, like YouTube, and the second ‘click’ is referring to the clicking sound of a metronome. The first half represents gaining popularity by writing songs for the sole purpose of getting big, while the latter refers to creating music as a passion. The title of the album being The Click, shows how this internal battle is one that AJR struggle with often when creating.