ALBUM REVIEW: Saviors by Green Day

   When one of your favorite bands releases a new album, it's a good time. Saviors was my most-anticipated album of 2024. So it's weird that it's not even February yet and my most-anticipated album of this year already happened. But, I have tickets to see them live and they're gonna play both Dookie (it's the 30th anniversary) and American Idiot (it's the 20th anniversary) in full, plus stuff from their new album and other stuff. I'm super excited.

1. "The American Dream is Killing Me"

  Ah, yes. The debut single from this album. I like how they also made it the opener. This song let's the listener know this album is gonna be sort of a return to form from Green Day, since the last album was... less than stellar. 9/10

2. "Look Ma, No Brains!"

    One of the catchiest songs on this album, this song seems to be about embracing ignorance and stupidity in the modern age, and it has a very Insomniac/Nimrod sound to it. 9/10

3. "Bobby Sox"

    I can't tell if this song is Billie Joe Armstrong expressing his bisexuality or a conversation between straight lovers, but it's a good song but probably the weakest so far. 7/10

4. "One-Eyed Bastard"

   The bada-bing-bada-bing-bada-boom is so incredibly easy to get stuck in your head. It's definitely a sing-along song. 10/10

5. "Dilemma"

   This song expresses Billie Joe's battle with alcoholism and how easily he can switch from being sober to being drunk again. It's a banger, but one of those that is actually a cry of pain behind the energy. 10/10

6. "1981"

   The way I described this song to my dad is that it seems to be about a girl who wants to mentally escape to the eighties to get away from the chaos of today, only to realize that the world of the eighties wasn't much better. 10/10

7. "Goodnight Adeline"

   I'm not sure how true this is, but I heard a YouTuber say this is also a track about Billie Joe's alcoholism. No matter what it's about, it's quite good. 9/10

8. "Coma City"

   In what seems to be a sequel to "Murder City" from 21st Century Breakdown, this song seems to depict riots and general societal chaos. Just another instance of this album examining the 2020's thus far. 8/10

9. "Corvette Summer"

   This song feels like something the Beach Boys would've written if they were a punk band. A song about jamming in your car and just driving around. It's alright, but this album does a lot better than this one. 7/10

10. "Suzie Chapstick"

   Okay, I'm sorry but this is my least favorite on the album. It's just Billie Joe Armstrong asking questions. And there's no real chorus to it. This was the last one I got down. But, the worst song on this album is still a pretty good song. 6/10

11. "Strange Days Are Here to Stay"

   Times are changing, and what can we do but try to help or just be mad at it? That's what this song seems to be saying, as well as just simply complaining about the direction the world is going in. Pretty on-brand. 8/10

12. "Living in the '20s"

   When the first line is "another shooting in a supermarket", you know the song is gonna be pretty scathing. This is probably the most bitter song on the album, criticizing what society in the 2020's so far is like. 10/10

13. "Father to a Son"

   It simply isn't a Green Day without a slow ballad. This one is Saviors'. When I first listened to it I sent it to my dad. It's a beautiful song that says "I'm not gonna lie to you son, the world is terrible, but I'm gonna do my best to show you the good parts and raise you to be a beacon of hope in it." 10/10

14. "Saviors"

   In what is somewhat a change of pace for Green Day, this song focuses on forming a movement. They aren't trying to be the saviors anymore, they are asking us for help. They still wanna rebel, but this title track is them asking us to join, and wondering and hoping that someone will come along and save us from the mess we're in. 10/10

15. "Fancy Sauce"

   I think the title track should've been the closer, but whatever. This song is fine. It features a lot of repetition of "we all die young someday", which seems to be somewhat of a resignation to this life. 7/10

OVERALL SCORE: 87%