''Fandom'' (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band Waterparks, released on October 11, 2019. It is the band's only release through

Hopeless Records Hopeless Records is an American independent record label in Van Nuys, California. History Hopeless Records was founded in 1993 by Louis Posen. The label's artists are generally considered to fall under the genres of punk rock, pop punk, post-ha ...

and was produced by Zakk Cervini. The album debuted at number 32 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 52 in the UK, spawning six singles: "Turbulent", "Watch What Happens Next", "Dream Boy", " eboot, "High Definition" and "Easy to Hate".

Background

''Fandom'' was originally going to be titled ''Friendly Reminder'', but lead vocalist Awsten Knight decided to delete the files and start over. In speaking about why he deleted the album and started over, Knight stated:

Themes and composition

Musically, ''Fandom'' has been described as pop,

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

, electronic,

emo pop Emo pop (alternatively typeset with a hyphen, also known as emo pop-punk and pop-emo) is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and Hook (music), hook-filled ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, with elements of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

emo rap Emo rap is a subgenre of Hip hop music, hip hop with influence from emo. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as trap-style beats with vocals that are usually sung. Some ...

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

, and

acoustic rock Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...

. Lyrically, the album focuses on fan expectations and pressure. Talking about the album's themes, Wall of Sound stated, " he albumgoes through stages of having written about the fandom directly and the pressures of being looked up to and the issues that have been noticed...to being about a very hard breakup and mental health struggles that comes with everything in general, as well as the topics being spoken about."

Release

On May 23, 2019, the band released their first single off of their upcoming album, "Turbulent" and announced that they got signed to

. On August 12, 2019, the band released the second single, "Watch What Happens Next" along with a music video and the announcement of the album to be released on October 11, 2019. On August 16, 2019, the band released their third single, "Dream Boy," along with a music video. On September 12, 2019, the fourth single, " eboot was released. On September 25, 2019, they released their fifth single for the album, "High Definition," along with a music video. On October 17, 2019, "Easy to Hate" was released as the sixth single, along with a music video.

Artwork

The artwork for the album features a sliced orange in front of a dark green tiled ledge. It was conceptualized and drafted by Knight before being finalized by illustrator Amber Park.

Reception

''Fandom'' received critical acclaim. In his review, Jack Rogers of ''

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more " underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, ...

'' called the album "one of the year's most fascinating, ferocious and fanatical albums". Jamie MacMillan of '' Dork'' gave the album four stars out of five, describing it as "edgy, exciting, and another nail in the coffin of boring genre restraints", calling it the band's best work to date. Jo Cosgrove of ''Discovered Magazine'' gave the album a rating of 9.5/10, stating that "''Fandom'' is a very fun, very bouncy, party-perfect album. But to the right listeners, a fifteen-track confession on why fame and celebrity isn’t as fun as it looks. Or sounds." In December 2019, ''Fandom'' made it to number 19 on ''Kerrang!s 50 best albums of 2019, described as "a scintillating, attitude-packed skewering of fan culture and modern heartbreak" and "all held together under their own umbrella, marking Waterparks out as leaders in a field of one." In November 2019, ''Alternative Press'' listed ''FANDOM'' on an unranked list of their 50 best albums of 2019 in alternative, punk, alt-pop and beyond. Paige Owens described the album as "unapologetically honest as well as liberating" and that it "combines the greatest elements of pop, electronic and pop punk for a layered output that will offer listeners something new each time".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Fandom'' Waterparks * Awsten Knight – lead vocals, guitar, bass, additional programming, artwork, layout * Geoff Wigington – guitar, vocals * Otto Wood – drums, vocals Additional * De'wayne Jackson – vocals * Lucy Landry – vocals Production * Zakk Cervini – producer, engineer, mastering, mixing * Amber Park – artwork, layout * Jared Poythress – programming * Nik Tretiakov – editing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Waterparks (band) albums Hopeless Records albums