For millennials like me, the release of the newest album from blink brought along a sense of nostalgia. The album cover for “NINE,” decked out with a neon rainbow background and matching neon lights, embraces the range of emotional diversity of the album. Rest assured, the teenage angst found in favorites like “All the Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again?” are still tangible throughout “NINE.”
In chronological order, blink carries listeners through lighter vibes found in “The First Time” and “Happy Days,” and then through “Heaven” and “Darkside,” listeners are converted to blink’s darkside. “Blame It On My Youth” and “Generational Divide” are examples of Mark Hoppus and Matt Skiba shrugging their shoulders when you weren’t convinced to join their darkside.
Ironically, the album really shines in the last nine songs. These songs are the other side of the bridge with darker topics like love, loss, abandonment, tragedy and self-identity.
“No Heart To Speak Of” is a percussion remedy to every heartache you’ve ever felt. I recommend having this one on repeat when you feel particularly upset. Songs 13-15 on the album are my favorite trio. Check out song No.13 on the tracklist for my own personal favorite and for everything you want in a song. The moody melody that Hoppus sings carries listeners through time spent with a lost love: “Thinking back to times in Manhattan / And that SoHo gallery / Saw the sights and your favorite paintings / You were as priceless as can be.”
The album ends with “Remember to Forget Me,” the most somber of all the songs. It touches on parental abandonment and how that sometimes is carried over into our darkest fears in other relationships. “We both made a left, it don’t make it right / I’m trying to forget, but remember the times,” sings Skiba in “Remember to Forget Me.” I promise you, this album is not worth forgetting.
Sourced: A. Vance
