Green Day releases fourteenth studio album “SAVIORS” – Album Review

It might be a little premature to say this, but I don’t think any 2024 album can top this one for me- this might be the release of the year.

Review By Leah Ramrattan | February 2, 2024

The iconic pop punk/punk rock (honestly, who knows) band Green Day is back and just as strong as ever with their fourteenth studio album Saviors! To say I was excited about this album is a huge understatement- it was the only thing I could think about coming into the New Year.

Green Day was one of my first exposures to the genre of music I love now, so this band is super important to me. Saviors stays pretty true to Green Day’s original sound while simultaneously  sounding fresh and new, many saying it’s their best album since American Idiot from 2004 (which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year!).

The band started this album cycle off by releasing four singles: “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” “Look Ma, No Brains!” “Dilemma” and “One Eyed Bastard,” which ultimately set the tone for Saviors. I found myself super obsessed with these singles, especially “One Eyed Bastard,” the fourth track of the album. The style of this angstier song seems to bear a resemblance to American Idiot, and the main riff even sounds kind of similar to “Holiday,” which makes it feel kind of nostalgic in a sense. Something I found funny about this song was that the band incorporated Mickey Mouse into their music video right as the character entered the public domain.

The third track on Saviors really stole my attention. When the album came out, I stayed up until midnight to listen to it as soon as it dropped. The song “Bobby Sox” was the first on the album that wasn’t a single, therefore it was the newest song that I heard. There’s something about Green Day’s love songs that I’m really drawn to, and this one is no exception. All in all, this is just a super sweet song with a riff that gets stuck in my head. Though it’s not very clear who it’s being sung to, with lyrics that range from “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?,” “Do you wanna be my boyfriend?,” “Do you wanna be my best friend?” Fans, especially ones belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, were quick to label this song a “queer anthem.” It’s really nice seeing so many different people bonding over this band.

Another song I love is “Corvette Summer,” which is literally what you would expect a summery Green Day song to sound like (even though it came out in January). It’s super fun, catchy, has just the right amount of cowbell. I added it to my summer playlist as soon as I heard it (even though there are no actual lyrics about summer… sometimes the title and vibes are all you need!). This song is honestly nothing more than a refreshing rock song, and if that’s what you’re into then this is quite the perfect song for you! There’s nothing quite like rock songs that literally say “rock and roll” in the chorus: “Get around, I can get around / Drop a bomb on my rock ‘n’ roll.”

Lastly, I can’t do a Saviors album review without mentioning the title track! Even in the first 20 seconds of the song, you can really tell that this was meant to be the name of the album. It’s musically powerful and perfectly concludes the album (though there’s a more mellow track right after, “Fancy Sauce,” which feels more like an end-credits scene to me). My favorite lyric of the song is “Everyone’s asleep, but nobody’s dreaming / We got all the fiction that’s worth believing.”

It might be a little premature to say this, but I don’t think any 2024 album can top this one for me- this might be the release of the year. I’m hoping to catch their show in Queens, New York at Citi Field where not only are they playing songs off Saviors, but they’re also playing their 1994 album Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot in full to celebrate the album’s milestone anniversaries. Until that happens, Saviors will not be leaving my record player!

 

Saviors Cover Art Images from Amazon.