Mayday Parade Showcases Big Melodies And Earnest Songs With ‘Sweet’

Tallahassee based pop-punk staples Mayday Parade have returned with their eighth studio album, with ‘Sweet’. This marks their first album since 2021’s ‘What It Means to Fall Apart’. This record dives into a lot of what makes this band so earnest and special amongst their peers, and it’s said to be the first of a few future releases within the next year or two by the band themselves.

The record opens with one of the singles, with “By the Way”. The piano in this feels so reminiscent of something from the 80’s, and it really gives off solid melodies throughout. The drums delivered by drummer Jake Bundrick are performed really well on this one. This track also gives off such Real Friends vibes, from the production and just the feel of it all.

We follow up with one of the standouts for me on this album, with “4,000 Days Plus the Ones I Don’t Really Remember”. The main guitar riff from guitarist Alex Garcia feels very reminiscent of Blink-182, as well as the bridge and the na na na’s at the end especially. It also harkens back to an older era of this band, one that I have quite the soft spot for. I love the energy here, as it’s got a chorus so catchy that I can’t help but feel nostalgic for this type of sound. I can absolutely see a song like this going over well in their live sets.

We follow up with the latest single from the record with “Who’s Laughing Now”. The Blink vibes feel even more present on a track like this, as the energy is at an all time high. I also feel that Joe Taylor from Knuckle Puck’s feature really fits in well with going back and forth with vocalist Derek Sanders on a song like this one. The bass delivered by bassist Jeremy Lenzo also stands out really nicely here as well. It makes for such a fun track, and keeps up the pace of this album so well already just three tracks in.

We follow that high energy up with a piano interlude with “This Personified”, which sets the tone very nicely as it goes into the next track seamlessly with “Who We Are”. This song also feels very reminiscent of older Mayday, and it just feels so catchy all around. I love the lead guitar delivered by Garcia after that first chorus, and the solo really fits wonderfully in a song like this. This album really does have all kinds of nostalgic vibes that it plays into their strengths for that.

It’s continued with the most summer upbeat type of track on this record, with “Natural”. The synth on this song feels so well added, and not overdone to where the twinkly type of sounds during the chorus add so much to the atmosphere of this track. From huge melodies, another stellar chorus, and another bangin’ solo…it makes for an easy highlight across these eight tracks. One that’s very fitting for the summer and hearing it with your windows down as the sun’s setting.

We reach another one of the singles and the ballad of the record, with “Towards You”. It’s just another showcase of this band really showing how good they are at writing songs like these, and getting the desired emotional effect. Derek sounds wonderful on here, and the orchestral parts add to that effect said before. It makes for a wonderful penultimate track before we exit the record.

The record ends with the first single, with “Pretty Good to Feel Something”. The main riff on this track feels like such an earworm to have delivered here. It feels like another classic type of song for them, so it’s nice that they ended on this track. The full band coming in during the last chorus feels so earned, and the lead guitar at the end really gives off Counting Crows vibes.

All in all, ‘Sweet’ is yet another example of Mayday Parade tapping into what they know and do best in the genre. It’s a fun listen that has catchiness on each track, and an earnestness so specific to them that can’t be found from any other band in this scene.