Attention all 2010s alt-pop fans who might’ve been active on Tumblr:
Today, the band, The Neighbourhood, broke their four-year-long hiatus and gave us three brand new songs: “Private,” “OMG,” and “Lovebomb.”
The fourteen-year-old version of me is FREAKING OUT. I have been waiting for this day for such a long time, and here it is.
Everyone has their favorite artist that’s been with them throughout their teenage years, and maybe it’s an artist whose entire discography you memorized. For me, it’s the Neighbourhood. I used to listen to their song “Sweater Weather” a lot as a kid from the radio, and then once I got to eighth grade, I rediscovered it as well as their album Wiped Out, and down the rabbit hole I went. I’ve had their songs in my Spotify Wrapped since 2018-2019, and they’ve been my top artist since 2021.
It’s safe to say that they are a band I know inside and out, and to celebrate their new upcoming album, here are my rankings of their five studio albums.
Chip Chrome and the Mono-Tones (2020)
While it is a really good album, Chip Chrome and the Mono-Tones took a much softer approach to the indie music scene and fed into the 2020 soft glam pop trend that everyone was doing. It’s very different from their West Coast hip-hop and alt-pop sound, and in my opinion, it just doesn’t hold up against their other four albums. I do love the songs “Devil’s Advocate,” “Pretty Boy,” and “Cherry Flavoured” but just compared to the others, this album had to go last. Overall, I rank it 3.5/5 stars.
#000000 & #FFFFFF (2014)
By far their most experimental album, #000000 & #FFFFFF is their hip-hop and West Coast rap album with many features from artists such as French Montana, G-Eazy, Danny Seth, Casey Veggies, and YG. The songs are darker, heavier, and louder, touching on themes of stardom and the depression that takes effect after a quick rise to fame.
This album came right after their massive hit album I Love You which launched them into the spotlight. Altogether, this album is such an underrated hit, and the Neighbourhood creates a decent hip-hop album that is starting to gain a little more attention now, 11 years after its release. It’s difficult to narrow down my favorites from this album, because I love them all, but if I had to pick, they’d be “#icanteven,” “Jealou$y,” and “T$RL.” Overall, I rank it 4.1/5 stars
Hard to Imagine the Neighbourhood Ever Changing (2018)
Hard to Imagine The Neighbourhood Ever Changing creates the perfect blend of experimental and familiar pop music. It maintains that old hip-hop style but is much more of an alt-pop album, leaning more into the LA California pop sound. They do have features from Denzel Curry, Ghostface Killah, Nipsey Hussle, and IDK, who create banger hip-hop songs that I would compare well to their previous hip-hop album from 2014.
This is one of my favorites based on how well they create a timeless sound that grows their sound yet also keeps their ties to their old sound. It even holds one of their most popular songs, “Softcore,” which blew up on TikTok around 2023, about five years after it was released. My favorite songs off the album are “Beat Take 1,” “Softcore,” and “Paradise.” Overall, I rank it 4.3/5 stars
I Love You (2013)
I Love You just might be one of the most influential albums of the 2010 alt-rock/pop music scene. Their song “Sweater Weather” became a smashing hit and topped Billboard charts for weeks, skyrocketing their name into the music scene and bringing The Neighbourhood into fame. This album became a defining moment in the alt indie rock scene and became influential on the app Tumblr.
This dark, grungy California style caught on and became the moody rock album. It talks about themes of anxiety and familial issues that resonate well with young teenagers. I’ve been saying for years that I would kill to be a teenager during the Tumblr era of social media like my older cousins were. While it’s incredibly hard to pick, my top songs off the album have to be “Afraid,” “Float,” and “Let it Go.” Overall, this album ranks for me as 4.8/5 stars.
Wiped Out! (2015)
Easily one of my all-time favorite albums, and one of the albums that shaped me so much as a person through my teenage years, is Wiped Out. Also, another album that made it into the alt-pop Billboard charts and influenced the Tumblr scene. Songs like “Daddy Issues” and “Crybaby” became staples on Tumblr. This album leans heavily into the West Coast rock sound with many references to the beach and the music scene in LA and altogether abandons the rap hip-hop sound.
This album had the biggest chokehold on me through high school and will forever be a favorite of mine in its nostalgia. My favorite songs off the album have to be “Single,” “Baby Came Home 2/Valentines Day,” and “Crybaby.” Overall, this album gets a 5/5 star ranking from me. I am beyond excited to see what direction the band decides to take in their upcoming album, Ultrasound, but based on what we’ve heard from the three songs, “OMG,” “Lovebomb,” and “Private,” they sound as if they are returning to their original alt-pop sound, and I am all here for it.