Following on from the release of their You Won’t Come Home EP last year, Stuck Out are stoking the pop punk fires with fresh single “Everything You Wanted”. But is the new song truly ‘everything you wanted’?
Speaking about the harm they feel that they bring to another with their inadequacy, Stuck Out’s latest oozes vulnerable angst from the get-go. Beginning sparsely with a vocal flood of insecurity, “Everything You Wanted” blooms into full strength at the chorus; where thick guitars and strength of presence matches the weight of just plain being not good enough.
Paring back again sonically at the second verse, we find ourselves hearing guitarist Ian Browney’s voice bouncing off Josh Walker’s. It comes across as a bombardment of perceived ineptitude from more than one direction, and a sense of growing frustration at the out-of-reach expectations they are existing within.
It’s at the bridge where the tide turns and a decision is made to slip out of the grip of pressure, and to give up this game of unworthiness that’s leading to their detriment. It’s expressed earnestly and is a relatable situation. The rise and harmonies of the last ten seconds feel fittingly hopeful as they shrug off the idea of impressing someone with their un-impressable self.
In the entertaining yet confronting Ed Reiss created (director/cinematographer/editor) music video, this dynamic of never quite being enough is held up against the scenario of a superior/boss. Never satisfied and continually asking for more, a frustration with enduring the toll of this inadequacy is taken to its metaphorical extremes, where the solution is a bloody one.. at least in fantasy.
While I dig the concept and the meaning shared, musically I’m just not sure if Stuck Out are showing us all they’re capable of here. This is definitely Stuck Out as we know and love them, but unfortunately it feels like it’s nothing particularly new from the band. Possible due in part to the super catchy “Stitch” having “Everything I ever wanted” in its lyrics. With a strong following and all the goals that the quintet have been kicking lately (appearing at Good Things Festival for example), I feel like it may be time for Stuck Out to push the limits a little more.
Check out “Everything You Wanted” below and see what you think?
