Your childhood favorites, Simple Plan, have come out swinging for their comeback album, “Taking One for the Team”. The Canadian pop-punkers have shaken up a few things on their newest release, but have stuck to what their best at for the most part. Overall, the album is a great time and reminiscent of the sounds of yesteryear while having a few fun surprises up their collective sleeve.
Songs like “Opinion Overload”, “I Refuse”, “Farewell”, “Nostalgic”, “P.S., I Hate You” all take the same sort of pop-punk vein whether they speak of sucky exes or downright haters, but they’ll keep you dancing (or moshing, if that’s your thing). “Boom!”, a personal favorite and one of their first singles off the album, is one of the album’s highlights with its anthemic and fun chorus, which will likely conjure up all your feelings when listening to it.
“Perfectly Perfect” and “Problem Child” slow things down a bit, but in the sweetest way possible. Lead singer, Pierre Bouvier, wrote “Perfectly” for his wife about how he sees her, despite the way she sees herself. They do this in a way that’s different than most bands singing about the familiar trope: it’s more mature and reflective than anything else. “Problem” will likely remind you of “Perfect” off one of their earliest release, “Still Not Getting Any”, in which their still apologizing for their shortcomings.
The more oddball songs of the bunch are the ones that have features, like R. City on “Singing in the Rain”, Nelly on “I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed”, and Juliet Simms on “I Dream About You”. “Singing”, which will be their newest single, takes on a bit of a reggae vibe, but is very uplifting. “I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed” is definitely the funkiest thing they’re done with a similar sound to most Maroon 5 songs. “I Dream About You” is what they’ve described as a “dark love song”m which is something different for them, as well as the most complex piece on the album. Juliet’s vocals add another layer of beauty to it as well. The other song that strays, but without a feature is “I Don’t Wanna Be Sad”, which is a bit out of place for the record, but shows how the group is trying to defy genres.
“Kiss Me Like Nobody’s Watching” and “Everything Sucks” take on a more pop-rock sound than the rest of their songs, but are just as good as their usual brand of pop-punk.
Give this album a listen if you just want to listen to great music by a fun band. It might just become your new driving soundtrack or even inspire you to come see them when they come back to tour the States in the fall.