The New Real – Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace is another popular rock band based out of the United States. They strive to produce music that has meaning and relevancy to it, in contrast to a lot of music being produced in this time. Their latest album, Outsider, was a great addition to their musical resume with many great songs that resonated with both old and new fans alike. One of the most successful songs on the album is called The New Real and tries to shine a light on the current state of our world.

Lead singer, Matt Walst, spoke about his motivation for writing this song as questioning the norm our society has created. He discusses straying from the typical way of life that everyone else chooses to live. He expressed an annoyance at the idea of living for other people, and not for yourself. Matt has previously talked about his struggle with his own personal happiness and how he now chooses to make decisions with less outside influence. This message is clearly conveyed throughout many different lyrics in the song.

Living everyday redundantly
Sounds like textbook insanity
The New Real

In this lyric Matt expresses the boredom that can be experienced from choosing to live with no true purpose. He describes this as ‘textbook insanity,’ and encompasses the idea of living by a book made my someone else. He labels this mentality as insanity, and speaks on the choices of the person choosing to live that way. Walst is trying to encourage living with purpose and avoiding the ‘new real’ of living redundantly.

The title of the song summarizes the whole message of the song. This band is working to avoid living redundantly and having that become, as mentioned, The New Real. It is the goal of the music to avoid everyone from falling into this circumstance, and in turn leaving our world a more free and original world, where everyone lives for themselves.

Wrong Side of Heaven – Five Finger Death Punch

Five Finger Death Punch is generally known as a rock/metal band, with influence from many music genres. Five Finger Death Punch is often known to be passionate about war, and the treatment of its soldiers and veterans. One of their most popular songs, Wrong Side of Heaven, is no exception to this. The song itself and the music video are strong messages trying to bring attention to the struggles retired soldiers endure when returning to everyday life.

I spoke to God today and she said that she’s ashamed
What have I become.
What have I done
Wrong Side of Heaven

This song is written from the perspective of an army veteran and works to describe the mindset they employ throughout their struggles. This lyric illustrates the negative thoughts many soldiers have and how they believe they are no longer good people, as a result of their experiences at war. It talks about the thought of God being ashamed of veterans because of the things they may have done. They reflect on themselves as evil and live in regret for the things they cannot take back.

I stand alone
I’m no hero and I’m not made of stone
Wrong Side of Heaven

This lyric further emphasizes the idea of a veteran with no support once they return from war. Veterans feel lonely and lost, with no help from anyone around them, they feel worthless and neglected. They start to believe they have done nothing good for anyone, and can no longer be of service to themselves or their country. This is how so many veterans end up struggling, depressed, or homeless.

The band Five Finger Death Punch tries to shine a light on this through their music, to hopefully bring more awareness to their grim situations. They constantly work towards making the lives of war veterans better through more support and regard for their past experiences. Five Finger Death Punch has aligned themselves with this goal, and use their music as a way to convey their message.

All Time Low – Dirty Laundry

Dirty Laundry is a song performed by the American pop-punk band All Time Low. It was originally released as a single in anticipation for their 2017 album Last Young Renegades. This song was a noticeable change from their past music and was generally well received amongst listeners. This song blazed a new trail for All Time Low as a band and has set the course for the type of music they would like to produce.

All Time Low frontman, Alex Gaskarth wrote this song as a tribute to a past relationship he had had. The main message of the song revolves around acceptance of mistakes yourself or someone else has made in the past, and leaving it there. Gaskarth talks about the importance of loving the people around you for not only their strengths, but also for their downfalls. This is a message that is seemingly very important to everyone in the band as they have spoken about it during past interviews.

I don’t believe in saints, they never make mistakes.
Dirty Laundry

This is the very first lyric in the song, and sets the tone for the rest of the track. It instantly presents the idea of imperfection and embracing that as imperfect people. No one is a saint, and that’s okay, it is our mistakes that make us who we are. Alex Gaskarth emphasizes the idea of making mistakes and learning from them in order to develop and grow through personal reflection. This is an idea that many listeners can interpret and learn from in order to become better people in their own lives.

All Time Low is a band that strives to write relatable music for their audiences, and Dirty Laundry is a great example of this. This fulfills a meaningful agenda that this band, and the rest of music should follow.

Neck Deep – The Grand Delusion

The Grand Delusion written and performed by the British band Neck Deep is a popular song of their 2017 album, ‘The Peace and the Panic’. Written by the lead singer, Ben Barlow, it is said to be about anxiety and depression that he has experienced throughout his life. As an active advocate for mental health awareness, Barlow created this song which originally started as a personal journal entry.

“This tightrope is swaying in the wind.”
The Grand Delusion

This popular lyric in the song is telling of Ben Barlow’s view of mental health and how easy he says it is to fall off the fine line many people walk. Mental health is a shaky bridge to walk and it is easy to fall into the depths below the metaphorical tightrope. Barlow states that it is so easy to fall off either side of the rope, be it elation or depression. He talks about his mental health throughout one of his tours and how it felt like he was constantly walking an unstable rope.

“Claustrophobic in my own skin, from holding it all in.”
The Grand Delusion

This lyric illustrates the true impact holding everything inside can have on someone’s mental health. Ben Barlow brings this to light with his iconic line and sends a message to all listeners that it is acceptable to talk about things they may be dealing with. He intends for listeners to hear his song about his own life and know that they are not alone in their own lives.

The Grand Delusion is an amazing song from the work of Neck Deep and as always provides a relatable listening experience for all audiences. It is a telling song of the lead singer and the band as a whole as to what they stand for and represent in their music. It is only a matter of time before new work from Neck Deep debuts alongside their upcoming album, and fans could not be more excited.