That's What's Up

Boys Will Be Boys
The Release
August 2, 2009




Powerpop that came here to party! Boys Will Be Boys' release of The Release took me away by storm. They are a four piece band from Virginia that bring some real heat to the powerpop industry. The album features six dazzling songs and a cover of Chris Brown's "Forever". 


My first impression of the album was surprise; not by the how good or bad the album was but rather its diversity. This is definitely not a band where all the songs sound musically the same. Some songs featured a more punk approach, with chord guitar riffs, and even some nice sweeps. Other songs featured solid piano melodies, and even some acoustic guitar, or a combination of all the above. Boys Will Be Boys kept their signature powerpop sound through every song they did though, which made things interesting. I also liked the how they titled their songs. Too many bands today title all their songs something random and hideous. Boys Will Be Boys managed to keep their song titles relative to the song, and still have interesting titles like "That's What's Up".

When I managed to muster up the courage to listen to their cover of Chris Brown's "Forever" I was quite pleasantly shocked. I was really hoping they wouldn't try to "re-do the song" exactly how it was done originally. I'm not a fan of rap, or even hip-hop for that matter, so before listening to the Boys Will Be Boys version, I decide to listen to the original. I can honestly say I love how Boys Will Be Boys did the cover. The cover is damn near spot-on but they still managed to keep their powerpop vibe to it. To me, this is an impressive feat because I feel like so many bands now-a-days just simply can't cover songs. They either make a poor song choice or they try to re-do the song without adding their own feel to it.

I highly recommend checking out Boys Will Be Boys if you are a fan of powerpop, and even if you pop/punk fans feel like expanding your roots. I recommend checking out the song "Stop Calling Me", but to really get the feel of the band, you need to check out their entire album. They are just too diverse to limit them to just one song. Check out "Stop Calling Me" here . Feel free to comment.