Summer Daze ft. Nostalgia
A Review of New Found Glory’s album: Forever and Ever x Infinity
Written By: Sierra Walsh
Summer was invented for falling in love. Think about it: this is the season that encompasses carefree vacations to beaches, sunshine, freedom, and the intensity of living in the moment. Plenty of movies such as Grease and Heartthrob explore young love that spawns between the sun rays and crystal clear ocean. Countless songs like Lana Del Rey’s classic “Summertime Sadness” embody the intensity during the carefree, humid nights with your favorite bad baby. Even with the plethora of art pieces dedicated to the season, pop punk should be crowned the Ultimate Summertime Genera because of the roster of songs that perfectly embody summer love. The newest, shiniest example epitomizing nostalgic summer nights is New Found Glory’s newest album, Forever and Ever x Infinity.
Roll the windows down and blast the Romeo and Juliet-esque track, “Shook by Your Shaved Head.” Few moments feel as intense as a love-at-first sight but what makes this opening song stand out a bit more than the typical lace-up-and-get-out-of-this-city anthem is the element of self-empowerment mixed in. The song opens with how he “can’t trust my own heart now” because of an implied previous relationship. There’s a sense that the previous romance was messy and that left him in a state where he didn’t know how to trust himself anymore. Suddenly feeling “shook by your shaved head” became the catalyst to the singer regaining trust in his intuition again. He reminds himself, “you gotta take your life back/you have so much more to give.” In essence, the song is definitely about a woman that captured his interest but the event was less about knowing they were soul mates and more about how he “won’t let it keep me standing still” in terms of allowing shame and insecurity dictate his decisions anymore. Sometimes, the best course of action is simply diving into the unknown potential. Do a flip, while you’re at it.
Naturally, the relationship one has with themselves is the most important and is often influenced by the company they keep. “Himalaya” shines a light on this while simultaneously emulating the energetic rebellious tracks on a 1990s punk album. “It’s time to find yourself some new friends” urges the person to rebel against their toxic normality by realizing their potential. By comparing the person to a birthday cake, there’s the sense that they are surrounded by people that “don’t want what best for you/they just want what works best for them/you spread yourself too thin.” Toxic romances are often explored through music which could be the reason why friend break-ups are often swept away from focal points. “Himalaya” feels liberating in the sense that the individual being addressed needs a better support group that will look out for them rather than feeling like they have to stay in the toxicity.
With the love interest letting their hair dance with the wind in the passenger’s seat and a new and improved posse queuing up the playlist in back, it can be smooth driving from here. Even with the long, lazy days spent in a hammock by the lake, there can still be lingering insecurities and doubts looming over the campfires at night. Bet that even the most hardcore, steel stomached, stone faced horror fan could confirm that “nothing is more scary to me than falling in love again” as proclaimed in the absolute banger titled, “Scarier Than Jason Voorhees at a Campfire.” Running fast enough and not falling could get most people away from Jason Voorhees. Unfortunately, no escape methods work on feelings unless one is willing to risk severe alcohol poisoning. (Pretty please don’t take that route.) New Found Glory explores the “fear of getting closer” to someone else with a cute juxtaposition of two types of anxiety with the singer and his love interest hanging out. Her anxiety while watching horror movies parallels the singer’s anxiety about developing feelings for her when he says, “you don’t like horror movies/this is way more frightening than that.” In a way, falling in love is like a horror movie because feelings are terrifying, could possibly kill you, and you have no idea what is going to happen if the relationship actually develops.
Optimistically, if the person returns the affections, it’s enough to make one feel like every day is a festival. Healthy love finds reasons to celebrate the smallest of moments and build each other up, but that isn’t the same thing as promising forever. Even if the person makes you feel like it’s your birthday every day, there is the possibility that they too could slip away. “Slipping Away” brings the album full circle but there is the impression that the summer romance helped in building up self-esteem as well as redeveloping trust in oneself. Despite how “there was a time you were proud of the deeper understanding we had,” there still needs to be enough self-awareness that giving someone one hundred and ten percent won’t make the love last or the people perfectly compatible. At the end of the day, “you can’t make someone love you who doesn’t want to.” Break-ups are as fun as dropping ice-cream on a hot day and about as inevitable. As much as they hurt, the healthiest approach is recognizing your potential, love yourself, and live your best life until the next shaved head shakes up your life.
Overall, Forever and Ever x Infinity is a fun, empowering, summer fairytale. If this album isn’t enough to get you hyped up for the summer holidays, New Found Glory will be playing 40 songs on June 19th to celebrate their album dropping. Links to tickets can be found on their Twitter @newfoundglory. Forever and Ever x Infinity feels like everything a summer love would be—self revelations, empowering yourself, and of course, finding a new love. Each relationship makes someone stronger in some aspect of their life. With this one, it felt as though the band was getting stronger with their listeners that may be going through messy emotions, uncertain new love or a break up. At the end of the day, the music helps the listener to keep swimming along. Enjoy summer and enjoy the album. It’s an absolute blast!
Purchase the new album, pick up a pre-order bundle, and grab your tickets to their livestream show HERE.
Note: A portion of the livestream revenue as well as ticket/merch bundles will be donated to colorofchange.org
