YOUNG CULTURE - YOU HAD TO BE THERE
On November 11th, New York trio, Young Culture, released their third album, You Had To Be There via Equal Vision Records. The album shows a great sense of freedom and fun in working together as a band, which the group didn’t get much of with the previous record due to the pandemic. This album gives off almost a “Let’s try this again” sort of mentality.
Opening track, ‘Not in Love’, is one that’s easily memorable. The instrumentals start the album off on a high note, and the lyrics are easily memorable. The backing vocals are perfectly used in the chorus to make listeners want to move along to the music.
‘Tattoo’ seems very much about having someone that has left such a negative impact on your life. Using the line that the person has “Scarred them like a tattoo,” through all their time together. The chorus of this track is incredibly catchy followed by the backing vocals.
‘DIfferent Now’ talks about loving someone and having loved how things were, but moving too fast, and things have changed. The song even uses the line “Everything’s different now. You wouldn’t know / ‘cause you’re not around.” The song also hints that it’s too late to fix these issues.
‘Whiskey’ is about missing someone and missing having them around, not just physically, but wanting to talk to them, and turning to whiskey to not think of them. The narrator of the song is going through a series of binge drinking in hopes that the person they’re missing will be a thing of the past.
Faster track, ‘Good Karma’, gives the same vibes one would get from listening to an act like State Champs. The lyrics seem to hint on the idea of going through a rough spot in life, but wanting things to get better, so, as the song states, you’re left “chasing good karma” in hopes things will be better in the end.
This album in all has super catchy lyrics, and strong instrumentals to accompany them. Upon first listen, it’s easy to hear these songs and want to get up and dance along to them. They give that amped up pop-punk vibe, while at the same time keeping lyrics and storylines that are relatable and super easy to follow.
Niki Davidson
★★★★☆