“Panic! at the Disco is: Brendon Urie,” says the liner notes for Death of a Bachelor, Panic! at the Disco’s most recent and fifth full length album. It’s hard to imagine a band that has only one member after the loss of three original members and one replacement member would work, but Panic! at the Disco is more successful than ever. Death of a Bachelor hit the top of the Billboard 200 charts the week it came out, making it the #1 album in the country.
Source: Billboard Magazine
It is not surprising though, especially when well-known artists like Halsey can be found streaming the album on Spotify, but an incredibly big deal since Panic!’s first album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, just reached double platinum status – meaning that it sold 2 millions copies – approximately 10 years after its release.
Source: Panic! at the Disco’s Verified Twitter Account
Urie himself knew that he had done something amazing when he completed Death of a Bachelor, and frequently considered leaking the album instead of waiting for its January 15 release date because he was so proud of it. Urie ultimately did wait for the album to release in full, but could be found singing the title song “Death of a Bachelor” on Periscope among other covers, as well as making multiple professional music and lyric videos for many of the songs from the album. Since now Urie has been the main creative force in music videos – even for past albums, post Pretty Odd. – he is able to build on past videos and their themes, as can be seen in “Emperor’s New Clothes.”
Now that the album is out, the growth that Urie has undergone as a singer and songwriter is apparent. His vocals have strengthened greatly – now able to be restrained and hit new falsetto heights. Urie’s lyrics have been good since Vice and Virtues, Panic!’s first album after the loss of two of their members to the aftermath of Pretty Odd, showing that Urie just needed the chance to write to shine. However, his writing has only improved through Too Weird To Live, Too Young to Die! and to Death of a Bachelor, as he shares more and more of himself. Urie also continues to comment on Heaven, Hell and everything in between, sharing his past in Vegas and his present with his wife, Sarah Urie.
Death of a Bachelor has combined all of the aspects of Panic!’s music that has made them the band they are today, from the use of electronic music to the cabaret sound turned now to Frank Sinatra – everything but the sounds of Pretty Odd. which was was an important album of theirs but such a divergence from the rest of their music. Panic! has hit new levels that could only be achieved through time and efforts by Urie to continue to refine their sound and themes.
Death of a Bachelor was the Panic! at the Disco’s first album that allowed Urie full creative control, and that freedom has allowed his ingenuity to flourish into something that is, in one word, victorious.
If you would like to hear the album, Death of a Bachelor is available now and can be purchased digitally on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, as well as physically from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Barnes and Noble, or streamed for free on Spotify or YouTube. Information of Panic! at the Disco’s upcoming co-headlining tour summer 2016 with Weezer can be found at Panic!’s official website.
References
Official Website: http://www.panicatthedisco.com/
http://www.fuse.tv/2015/10/panic-at-the-disco-death-of-a-bachelor-album-emperors-new-clothes
Urie Double Platinum Photo: https://twitter.com/PanicAtTheDisco/status/664995030726234112/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Billboard 200: http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
Halsey streaming information and picture: https://play.spotify.com/?utm_source=web-player&utm_campaign=bookmark