Hello, I’m MusiCommentator, and I focused on hip-hop/R&B music a lot last month (and the start of this month) so I decided to take a look at another genre and take a break from rap. That is, until I make my 2018 XXL Freshman List post later this week or at the start of next week. But, I think for now, the best route to get away from rap is to look at boy bands.
After One Direction broke up, we’ve been in a state where no popular boy bands have been infesting the radio waves. For some, this is good, but I am curious whether boy bands will one day come back in the spotlight or become extinct like the dodo bird. Many people still want boy bands to be around, though. This demographic mostly consists of underage girls, but nonetheless, Why Don’t We is trying to be the next big thing.
Why Don’t We is a boy band that formed in late 2016, consisting of members from all around the United States. Their first break into the mainstream media was on a Logan Paul song “Help Me Help You”, and while many like myself decided to never listen to that song for plenty of legitimate reasons, it helped the boy band appeal to that core demographic of prepubescent girls that love boy bands oh so much. Since then, the band has released a number of different singles, none of which have broken them into a larger fanbase, but I decided to take a look at their newest single “Talk“. If you could not tell by this introduction, I am not a huge fan of boy bands, so I am going into this expecting it to be a typical boy band song about some aspect of love given by immature voices.
“It’s not just me, no, you feel it too”
Just judging by this vague first line, I’m guessing that my expectations are right.
“You know and I know, we lost the lotto”
Having listened to this song a few times now, I know that it is about the bandmates talking to their respective lovers on how their relationship is not working out because both parties don’t like each other. But, this line just confuses me. What is the lotto supposed to symbolize? Is it a relationship? Because they make it clear they’re already in a relationship. Is it marriage? I don’t think these guys are old enough to realize that marriage isn’t always a “lotto”.
“It’s like our love cut the line in two”
Their love cut the line in two? From what I can tell so far, it’s their lack of love for one another that is ruining their relationship. Luckily, verse one is almost done, so let’s go to the pre-chorus.
“Our lips are moving, they’re makin’ words”
The pre-chorus isn’t going to be any better, huh?
“We go, breaking up like cell phones
When I speak, ’cause you don’t listen when I talk
Dial tone, nothing but that high note
When you speak, ’cause I don’t listen when you talk”
Moving on to the chorus, I like these lyrics a lot better than those in the verses, not because they’re any less cringeworthy, but because I admire that they took an extended metaphor and went through with it for the whole chorus and post-chorus. I know this sounds like a trivial thing to be praising, as creating an extended metaphor shouldn’t be too hard for a band to do, but compared to the rest of the lyrics in this song, I’m glad they took something and went all the way with it. It just makes it sound like a better chorus.
“If we could speak like we’re trying to
Share conversation, communication”
Well, yeah, that’s what speaking is. If I’m speaking to someone, it usually means I’m in a conversation with them. That’s just how language works.
“I’m hearing me and you’re hearing you”
Compared to the rest of this song, this lyric is not too terrible, as it successfully portrays how both parties are not listening to one another. This gives us a real reason as to why this relationship they’ve been talking about through the entire song isn’t working out. Still, it sounds corny enough to be in a boy band song, which, ironically, it is.
After that, the rest of the song is basically just the same lyrics from the chorus, and then the song is over (thank God).
Overall, my expectations stayed pretty in tact. I expected a song about love with cheesy lyrics that would only appeal to girls in the age range from 10-13, and I was right. I also expected all the singers to sound almost identical to each other, and I was right again. This is actually a pet peeve of mine, as I think that if you have multiple people in a band or group, each person should display their own style and personality. For boy bands, though, each voice stays almost indistinguishable from one another for larger appeal. If I had to give this song a positive, I did like the drum patterns…and that’s about it. I wouldn’t necessarily say this is one of the worst songs of the year since it is basically what an average boy band song is, but that does not make it good. For that, I would give this song a 1.5 out of 5. Do you agree?
Thank you for reading my “Talk” song review. If you liked this review, make sure to follow my website, Twitter, and Instagram, like this post, and be sure to check in to read my future reviews. Also, if you have something you want to see me review, tell me in the comments. Until then, keep on listening to good music! I know I will.
MusiCommentator 
I agree with your comments. The typical boy band consists of 4-5 cute, non-threatening boy-next-door types who appeal – as you state – to mostly pre-teen girls, and all sound about the same. Their songs are typically very catchy, with a dance beat of sorts, but most are forgettable and indistinguishable from the others.
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Yeah, every once in a while a boy band will come out with a good song (like 1D’s “Drag Me Down”) but boy bands are mostly used to maximize label profit by making lowest common denominator music.
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