"You're Welcome:" A Long Wait Over

Almost a year and a half later, A Day to Remember's seventh studio album You're Welcome is finally out. Originally slated for release on November 15, 2019, it then got postponed until, most likely, early 2020. However, the band would go until November 18, 2020 before giving an official release date for the album.

You're Welcome clocks in at 14 songs and 46 minutes and is A Day to Remember's first release in six years, the longest the band has ever gone between albums. It's been a long wait up until this point, but the final product has proved worth it, if you put aside everything you know about the band.

Each of the 14 songs are entirely different, most taking on a completely different sound from the traditional "A Day to Remember sound."

The opening track and fourth single, "Brick Wall," feels promising. It feels like the natural growth of their sound. The next song and third single "Mindreader" hits different. It's a good show of their lyric writing capabilities, telling a story that seems complex but is actually just about simple argument with a significant other about something like what to eat for dinner. It's a radio rock kind of song. And the next track, "Bloodsucker," builds on that, delivering an anthemic chorus.

"Last Chance to Dance (Bad Friend)" is the song that most reflects the sound A Day to Remember is best known for. It brings back those heavy guitars and screaming vocals. It sounds like the A Day to Remember we all grew to love. It's a full-blooded song that contrasts the screams in the verses to the clean vocals in the chorus.

From there, the album takes another turn into experimentation. "F.Y.M." and "High Diving" feel super laid back. They're strict contrasts to "Last Chance to Dance (Bad Friend)" and the song that follows them, "Resentment." They both utilize strong but pop-y vocal harmonies. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. But when sandwiched in between the two heaviest tracks on the album, things start to feel out of place.

"Looks Like Hell," the eighth track on the album is the weirdest of them all. It sounds completely different from the rest of the tracks. It utilizes R&B inflections and emphasizes atmospheric sounding keys. "Viva La Mexico" follows, deploying a strong pop-rock sound through power chords and backing vocals that build an anthemic vibe.

The album then moves into the most emotional track on the album, "Only Money." It features a piano and beautiful vocal harmonies. It's easily the most personal track on the album. It's a real and raw moment. But as nice as that moment is, it quickly gets overshadowed by the pop-punk anthemic track "Degenerates." The song has been out for a year and a half, and despite being the first single, it almost feels out of place, surrounded on one end by an emotional track, and on the other by a more grunge-sounding track, "Permanent."

The second to last track, "Re-Entry" turns back to a more arena-rock sound. It's anthemic and relatable, delivering attacks against homesickness and the constraints of "A three piece suit's like a three piece cage / The cubicle of our modern age."

The last track and fifth single, "Everything We Need," is a beautiful acoustic track, meant for an arena of fans singing the words back at the top of their lungs. It's all around an incredible closing track.

When you take a step back from this album and look at it one song at a time, it's a pretty solid album. Every track is different, every track is unique. They are genuinely really good songs. But the story changes when you put them together. Some songs get drowned out, like "Only Money" and even the anthemic "Degenerates." "Bloodsucker," "Viva La Mexico" and "Everything We Need" promise to go hard live when concerts are back. "Only Money" is a beautiful raw and emotional track. "Last Chance to Dance (Bad Friend)" is a classic A Day to Remember song and is just all around a good heavy track. "F.Y.M." gives the vibes of driving down back roads with the windows down and "High Diving" gives off vibes of dancing in the kitchen. Putting all fourteen of these unique tracks together, however, feels like a puzzle that just doesn't quite work. When you have so many tracks that sound pretty different from each other, unfortunately some are bound to get forgotten and some are bound to get smothered by the surrounding tracks.

For what it is, however, You're Welcome proves that A Day to Remember are more than their heavy roots. They're succeeded in breaking their barriers of what they can do, in pushing their sounds in different directs. It's a demonstration of what they can do, both as a band and as songwriters. They wanted to do something different and they did. And on a track-by-track basis, they did it well. There's not a bad song on the record. There really isn't. On their own, they all are incredible genre-pushing songs. All together, however, things start getting drowned out and left behind.

The album is best listened to when you put aside any and all preconceived notions of what A Day to Remember sounds like, what kind of music they're known for. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that in a bad way whatsoever. No band should be confined to one sound, and no community should ever force a band or artist to pigeon-hole themselves. When you put aside the expectations that build when there's a six year gap between albums (and also consider the major events that have happened between now and then, such as their lawsuit against Victory Records ending, signing to Fueled by Ramen, and the birth of front man Jeremy McKinnon's first child), this album can really shine. There's so much potential in it and so much potential for what's next for A Day to Remember. The issue here, though -- and maybe it's just the COVID-era of no live shows talking -- is that we're already on to what's next for the band. When you do factor in the wait, the album can't help but feel a little disappointing, especially when it feels like a compilation of fourteen singles, and not one coherent album that all works together.

But listen to it yourself and make your own judgement on it. Don't just take my word for it, don't just take the opinion of any review. Put some headphones on and give it a go. For once in my life, however, I won't encourage you to listen to it with shuffle off. It's honestly probably better that way.

Listen to the full album on Spotify here: