New Kids on the Block - Thankful

New Kids on the Block
Thankful EP
2017
Spotify

Listen Trump is fucking president and The New Kids on the Block have a new EP out, I don't know why or how but here we are. The Kids are well past their prime but still manage to sell out Vegas shows and have returned with this EP. There is clearly an audience for this music, and a very specific one. There are some people who likely never gave up on the New Kids on the Block and a few who live for the nostalgia but that is probably it. The fact that all the years later the New Kids still say "girl..." in almost every song is pretty incredible and shows that they still think their sound has a place at the table. That really is not the case as each track is so saturated with cheese its hard to even get through. For their age the Boys sound pretty freaking good and still hit nice harmonies, but god the lyrics are just out of control. Every single song is focused on making that woman feel good, which is fine but when every word out of your mouth is solely focused on that it makes the album feel so basic. The thing about The New Kids on the Block is that their whole thing was more of an image, so just focusing on the music you loose a great deal of what made them popular in the first place. However at some point the music has to be the focus.

"Hard (Not Luvin U)" seems to pay homage to the groups 90s hits with its drum machine bop and interesting spelling. The song itself follows in the same vein as much of the rest of the record lyrically. "Still Sounds Good" is the all out nostalgia track and the albums closer, with plenty of references to 1989 and a Donnie Wahlberg rap verse. The rap is hands down the worst part of the entire record and is reminiscent of the "Super Bowl Shuffle" in it's delivery. It makes sense that with their recent surge in popularity the New Kids should put something out for their fans to fawn over but jeez this record misses the mark. There is not one thing that makes it feel modern or fresh, just a re-hash with some better production, but then again what exactly did We expect?

3.1 out of 10