This song may be contentious, but Fuck It Dude, Life’s A Risk. I’ve been a big fan of FIDLAR since I first heard their debut self-titled. It was chock full of drug and booze-fueled surf-infused slightly-poppy surprisingly well polished punk tunes. The second album mostly stayed true to the original sound, but saw them getting a little more poppy and potentially radio friendly with, and frequently talked about selling out and also had some personal songs about some of the band members issues with substance abuse and experiences with rehab.

Their third album was released today and after a string of singles that each left their fan base more confused, the reception has been a bit lukewarm at best, and straight up angry at worst. This is one of the tracks that was released as a single a few months ago, and I was quite surprised by the sound. It’s a little bit funky, very smooth, and way off from the expectations of most of their fan base. Personally, I really dig it, and I’m happy that the band is evolving, growing and experimenting. It feels like they’re trading in a lot of the raw punk attitude for rock star swagger, which I feel like the video above symbolizes pretty well.

I’ve listened to the full album a couple times now and it’s a bit hit-or-miss in some areas, and as an album it’s not very cohesive, but I mostly like it and I feel like there are enough tracks that capture their old style that should make the old fans happy. That being said, most of the reactions I’ve seen have been pretty negative, and there seems to be a lot of entitlement about how they’re selling out and how they’ve sucked since after the first album. I hate the mentality that a lot of people have with artists they like. These guys have gone through a lot, they’re growing and changing, and if you don’t like the new shit, don’t listen to it. It’s probably not for you anyway.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Last time I heard it: Last night. The video above(directed by Jonah Ray!) was released pretty late and I checked it out before going to sleep.