The Chainsmokers - Sick Boy

The Chainsmokers
Sick Boy
2018
Spotify

So this is kind of a confusing one. Throughout the year The Chainsmokers have released a series of EPs titled Sick Boy... (insert new song title here) each building upon the last with a new song added to the EP. I reviewed a version called Sick Boy...Everybody Hates Me (Review) back in March thinking that was just the extent of the EP, but the boys added a few more songs throughout the year and finally the culmination of all that work is this new record Sick Boy. Let's just say from the bat there has not been much improvement in the work over the past year; Drew is singing more, like a lot more, the sound is so aggressively EDM-Pop centric that it feels completely watered down. There is not a sniff of edge to this record, everything is totally rounded out and their choice of features continue to be almost the exact same save for adding a rapper here and there. I recently watched a part of The Chainsmokers' performance at The Victoria's Secret fashion show, and they look nothing like the snobby DJs of before. A shift towards pop is not necessarily a bad thing if done right, but The Chainsmokers have just all out abandoned anything good will they had before in the search of some cash. Now I don't know for sure if this change is sound is directly a money move, but what in the hell else could it be? Is this sad boy EDM shit what really speaks to these grown ass men or is it just what they think people want to hear.

"Side Effects" with their frequent collaborator Emily Warren is fine, but feels like a vehicle for her career rather than a true Chainsmokers track. The thing that really gets me is how much these guys lift from themselves. All over this album you will find songs that sound like some of their old hits, or at least steal partial beats from them. It's like they are completely out of an original thoughts and have to rely on what they've previously done just to stay afloat. It's frustrating as hell to have been a fan of these guys, because this pop shift is so blatant and honestly bad. This is certainly setting the stage for them to return to their "roots" on the next release but at this point it seems like the damage is done. The problem with a pop audience is it is fickle as fuck. You might be on top of the world one day, and at the bottom of a pit the next. The fans of other genres aren't quite as flippant with their fandom, because it takes more than just listening to what is the most readily available. They try on "SIren" by throwing in some Skrillex-esque dubstep from 2014. I don't know what else to say, they are bad and seemingly getting worse. This whole rollout was likely just a scam for streaming numbers which adds more insult to injury. Don't listen to this, don't waste your time, they are far better ways to spend 32 minutes.

1.0 out of 10