If you’re currently putting together your “faLL 2k19 pLaYLiSt”, leave a little room for THE WLDLFE and get ready to lose your voice singing in the car. With two EPs and one LP under their belt, THE WLDLFE has been putting out incredible music since 2016, and the fivesome deserves way more hype. You could describe their sound as being somewhere between Nightly and The Band Camino, with lyrics and themes that give off a charismatic boyish impression. Band members Jansen Hogan, Carson Hogan, Geoff Jones, Jason Boucaras, and Jack Crane are as edgy as they can be, and their fun-loving skater-boy vibe is something to behold. Aesthetically, they’re the polaroid hipsters who do their own thing and look cool doing it. Musically, they’re the mysterious, crushworthy boys next door, with songs that range from playful to sweet to serious. Their work is not only versatile, but radically relatable - and this is why they’re so awesome.
Relatability - it’s something everyone craves, and THE WLDLFE dishes it out wholeheartedly. Sure, most artists make relatable music, but there’s something different here. Their relatability makes you feel deeply because they have an artistic way of depicting the thoughts and emotions we all experience in private, but are hesitant to share with others. They take this concept in a different direction with every song as well. What’s more, their sound is absolutely heart-stopping, with bass-heavy synths that make you break out into a drum solo on your steering wheel. Listening to them is like riding a rollercoaster physically and emotionally. Your stomach drops when their beats do, and their lyrics leave you feeling validated. Simply put, their music is an all-around experience.
Need a dose of relatability? Here are some of their songs and what they’re about, so you can get right to your feels without having to sort through their entire discography, even though one song will leave you wanting more.
Towel: This is easily my favorite song by them. It’s all about knowing something is over, but refusing to let go because the relationship meant so, so much - like watering flowers when you know they’re dying. It’s futile, and the very thing that gives you life is also sucking the life out of you. It’s also about needing answers that you don’t want to hear, and holding on when your hands hurt because you’d rather get rope burn than let go. THAT feeling. How do you let go of a relationship like that? There are so many emotions pulsing through the lyrics, allowing the listener a glimpse into the chaotic mind of the singer. He pushes out “Can I interrogate your mind” confrontationally, and then pulls back with “Do you mind love?” nervously, evening out his tone of aggression with tenderness and uncovering that anger is simply chocolate covered sadness. Hogan then sings “I’ll let you go now”, and immediately after there’s a text tone in the background, suggesting that part of the reason he can’t move on is because his ex-lover continues to reach out. At the end, the lyrics “Well I thought we / Were running on the same wavelength / I guess that I was wrong babe” are the most hard hitting part of the ballad, leaving the coals to glow with no resolve. This song is downright raw, and you’ll feel every second of it.
I Don’t Mind: Falling hard and fast can hurt...but it can also be awesome, and even the most ordinary moments with the right person can turn golden. “The lights are off while we’re up in my room, I’m laughin' / Your feet are too small when you try on my shoes” is such a simple situation, but when you’re in love it’s this romantic, thrilling exchange. Their ability to express passion and translate a feeling through sounds and lyrics is so beautiful, and they truly capture the essence of what young, infatuating love is really like.
A Boy On the Phone: This one is about desperately wanting to mean more to someone who isn’t emotionally available. What’s cool is that you can feel both sides of the story. There’s clearly a disconnect between the singer and the subject, and a struggle between him wanting to help her and her feeling like a burden. It comes down to two people with two different states of mind, neither necessarily in the wrong and both hurting over this unavoidable conflict. Instrumentally, the song picks up and slows down repeatedly, twisting and turning to reflect the complexity of the relationship the singer is illustrating.
Real Ones: This song is the antithesis of “Everybody’s Changing” by Keane. It’s just a pure song about friendship. That sounds sappy, but is it really? Most people (hopefully) have more friends than lovers, making it strange that friendship is so rarely sung about. Relationships with friends are still intimate, and they shape who people are just as significantly as romantic relationships do. Lyrics like “Cause even when we change we still feel the same” remind you that there are people who will always make you feel young and yourself, and those are the friendships worth holding on to.
Self-Lovin: This song rocks because it’s all about loving yourself, and who doesn’t love to be a little narcissistic? Joking - it’s about self acceptance and finding happiness apart from depending on another person, which most of us need to be reminded of. It is okay to take care of yourself (a little louder for the people in the back). But seriously, there’s nothing wrong with focusing on your mental health. We confuse self care with selfishness, which leads to groundless guilt. “I need a break before I break”.
I Lost You: On the flip side, it’s hard to love yourself at times, and that’s the message they tackle in “I Lost You” When life isn’t situationally ideal, it can be easier to shut down and isolate yourself. The first lyrics set up the meaning behind the whole song “I haven’t been too kind to my body / I’ve made a habit ignoring the phone / I’m surrounded by all of these people / But still I feel like I am all alone”. Often, loneliness has nothing to do with the people around us, it’s a product of how we care for ourselves. If we can’t love ourselves, nobody can, and that’s how we get lost (hence the lyrics “Still lonely and confused / I thought by now I would have found myself / But I guess I lost me too”).
Waterfalls: Newsflash...boys cry too. Instead of drowning their coffee with sugar, THE WLDLFE bluntly sings about weakness, dismantling the expectation that is placed on men to be alfa figures, putting their listeners in the mindset that emotions are entirely valid and everyone is allowed to feel. “I’m in my room / Thinking of you / And you’re somewhere at the bottom of a bottle / On a tuesday” reflects this reverse of gender roles, bending a modern societal construct that tells men and women the outlets they are supposed to turn to.
44 + All I Ever Do: If you need to marinate in despair - here ya go. “44” is the intro into All I Ever Do, and together they make the perfect sad song. The question at hand - if you’re happy and you’re growing, why are you still jotting down what hurts you and dwelling on the past? The answer - you can do everything right and still feel stuck because (drum roll) healing isn’t linear. Sometimes our hearts don’t do what we want them to do, and that’s entirely human.
Notch: Everyone has that person who makes them feel crazy. I love this song because the lyrics are vulnerable in expressing a mindset many people experience after rejection, but don’t want to admit to out of fear that they’ll appear dramatic or unstable. “You don’t remember falling hard / Holding hands inside my car” indicates that there was a time this girl wanted him, until she “Ran the other way”, leaving him with memories and questions of what he meant to her in the first place of if he’s just a notch on her belt.
I’m Not Worried Anymore: This is their only instrumental track and another one of my favorite songs. It serves as a conclusion to their first full-length album, and conjures up memories of being with your favorite people in your favorite places and taking everything in. In three minutes, THE WLDLFE shows off the complexity of their sonic prowess and their ability to evoke emotion without lyrics. These dudes know what they’re doing when it comes to painting sentiment through sound, and this song evidences this entirely.
From heavy beats and dreamy soundscapes to lyrical transparency, THE WLDLFE gets to the core of intense emotion shamelessly. Each of their songs will allow you release in some capacity, whether you’re delving into your most positive or negative thoughts and feelings. It's comforting knowing someone else has experienced what you’re going through, and obtaining that sense of relatability sometimes means wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Oh btw they’re announcing new music sometime in the next two weeks.
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