So Much (For) Stardust is so much more than an album
Lights, sweat, endless dancing, and screaming along is probably the best way to enjoy Fall Out Boy. Or lying on your bed with your eyes closed. Either way, you're in for a journey, some tears, and definitely some emotionally cathartic screaming.
I know Pete Wentz doesn't want me to call this a return to form, but So Much (For) Stardust feels like being 14 again, like slamming the door to my childhood bedroom and listening to Folie à Deux for the first time. Like seeing my bedroom ceiling open up to the stars, to fantastical worlds, and tearing my heart open to let lyrics drip out of it. I hear every era of Fall Out Boy in this record, and it fills me with pride to claim this band as my own as a fundamental part of my adolescence.
Fall Out Boy has had their ups and downs, and I, like most fans, would mournfully criticize their last album, Mania, for its trend-chasing and staleness. This record is its exact opposite. While pop punk has experienced a recent post-pandemic rise to became a facet of pop music today, from Machine Gun Kelly's latest work collaborating with Blink 182' drummer Travis Barker to Olivia Rodrigo taking inspiration from Paramore, Fall Out Boy avoid convention and elaborate upon the genre that made them famous in a new and exciting way. In a landscape changing around them, Fall Out Boy has always been here. That's the magic of it all.
From dappled synths to driving guitars, raucous pop-punk infused choruses, and poems interspersed in the songs, it feels like this is everything Fall Out Boy has ever been. It lays bare hard-driving guitars and 80s synth trills, exposing the musical movements that built them. Lush production gives each song a wonderful soundscape to fully escape into, whether it be the funky bass on "Hold me Like a Grudge," to Danny Eflman-esque orchestral sections on "I am My Own Muse," to wailing guitar accents on "Heaven, Iowa." The album feels creepy and lovely all at once, like being in the eye of the storm. It's a twisted fairytale, but one I'm all too happy to be immersed in. It feels like home.
This record was the shock to the system, Fall Out Boy needed to reconnect with older fans and prove to newer fans that they are still a band worth following, one not defined purely by the cultural trends around them. The record also experiments with new styles, adding funk grooves to their sound, boisterous horns return in full force, and triumphant melancholy dominates. I can hear their pop anthems of the 2010s and pop-punk bite from the 2000s; this record reframes it all as beautiful and vital to their journey, to your journey. So Much (For) Stardust is a beautiful embrace of all that is and was and has ever been Fall Out Boy. This idea is affirmed by the series of surprise "Magic 8 Ball" songs played at every show this most recent tour that show off Fall Out Boy's remarkable discography and deep cuts to a degree previously never seen.
I was lucky enough to attend the ensuing tour for this album, which, like any Fall Out Boy concert, did not disappoint. The feeling of community this tour was so strong, and it was wonderful to see fans making unique pieces of clothing, jewelry, and more to wear to the show, as well as bracelet trading, which has become a concert staple. I felt honored to once again revel in Patrick Stump's beautifully dynamic live vocals, and it felt like every band member got time to shine, making for a truly special performance. This whole album cycle has reaffirmed the community that first drew me to this band. In the end, it's the idea of feeling together again despite all that lies behind us and all that lies ahead.
It's the feeling of growing up, of finding the world a little more wild and a little less hopeful than we left it in 2018. But maybe there's something to that. Maybe we all need a little bit of screaming at the sky; maybe we all need some catharsis. So Much (For) Stardust feels like coming home, somewhere fantastical, where everything is a little uncertain, but at least we're in it together, and these days, that's what I'm needing.
Article by Lily Leone.