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Favorite Track: "Some Nights" Least Favorite Track: "It Gets Better"
OutKast, Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child. These are all names of bands that went on a “hiatus” but never returned. So far it looks like Indie Pop trio fun. will eventually fade into the same archive of “what ifs”. The difference is fun. did this at a time where they were presumably at the top of their careers. Their 2012 album Some Nights, scored them a staggering five Grammy nominations and one win in the category of Best New Artist. So what happened? In 2015 the group announced their “hiatus” via Facebook. “Fun is not breaking up” the post read. They relayed that the three of them simply had been taken toward different places in terms of inspiration. They told their fans that “sometimes that inspiration leads to Fun music, sometimes it leads to musical endeavors outside of Fun.” Since the hiatus, lead singer Nate Ruess released his debut solo project in 2015 which resulted in a massive flop. Jack Antonoff has also done work with his new band Bleachers and co-written and produced for some pretty huge names, most noticeably for artists like Taylor Swift, and Lorde. Most speculation points to Nate Ruess being the one who wanted to go solo. His solo project clearly was a commercial failure because he was the face of fun. while Antonoff was behind the writing. Some Nights is so easy and fulfilling to look back at and re-listen to because it was written with that intention. The album is equivalent to the inner dialogue of a child. Some Nights is a youthful coming of age story that is an anthem for the generation in which it came from. Tracks like “We Are Young” and the title track went on to be some of the defining tracks of their generation. The LP is so powerful because it truly captures every part of the coming of age experience. With themes from self hatred, to loneliness, to being cheated on, this album is a highschool story. It’s a unique, emotional, nostalgic, pop experience because throughout this whole LP Nate is charmingly and almost strangely relatable and familiar. Everyone grows up, I guess fun. did too, but myself and so many others are eternally grateful that they left us with an album that will stay young forever.