AJR celebrated their upcoming album with their new single “Birthday Party”. (@ajrbrothers/Instagram screenshot)
AJR, an indie pop band from New York celebrated their upcoming album “Neotheater” with the release of their new single “Birthday Party” as well as listing the album for preorder on iTunes on Monday.
On March 4, 2019 the band tweeted that within the next few weeks there would be “big things” happening. From then on they released a music video for their latest single “100 Bad Days” featuring severed heads and trippy editing, an album trailer, the release of “Birthday Party” and the album preorder.
The band was also seen on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the night of the release. They performed “100 Bad Days” on the show and Kimmel officially announced the album.
“Adam + Jack + Ryan = @AJRBrothers! #Neotheater,” Kimmel tweeted with a photo attached of the band performing.
AJR announced on Monday that the album will be released April 26, 2019.
“Birthday Party” starts off with an odd sound bite that is reminiscent of what someone could hear when a character is waiting in a video game or cartoon. The sound bite builds up the beat of the song, which is simplistic enough to focus the audience’s attention on the lyrical aspects of the song.
The song tells a story of being naive and young, when everything feels like it’s going perfectly. In the lyrics, the song talks about instances where the band might have been naive about things in their life.
The naivety is addressed in terms of bigger issues that are happening in the country currently, such as the debate surrounding immigrant rights.
“I bet my ignorance is always bliss, except ignoring pigment in my skin. I bet my country’s nice to immigrants, that’s just what it is,” AJR sings.
“Birthday Party” also addresses issues with Instagram and how naive people can be to how this social media site effects people.
“I bet this Instagram’s a load of fun, showing the best side of everyone. I bet it never bites us in the bum,” AJR sings.
The song comes from the perspective of someone young. The lyrics explain that the narrator is only a minute old, therefore being a newborn.
“Thank you, for coming to my birthday party. I’m one minute old today and my minutes been going great, and I hope it stays that way,” AJR sings.
“Birthday Party” is an energetic song that addresses so many different problems and struggles that teenagers go through while looking back on their childhood. Many people can relate to the lyrics about Instagram and its effects, as well as being ignorant to racial issues.
The song sends an open message of acknowledgment of how naive we as humans can be when we’re children. “Birthday Party” pokes fun at their ignorance and privileges that AJR, as a band, have not acknowledged publicly before.
Rating: 5/5
Madison Appleby is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at madison.appleby@uconn.edu.
