Here’s that attention attention you ordered…

[Video]
[3.00]

Thomas Inskeep: Rock hasn’t died, exactly, it’s just having trouble proving its relevance in 2020. This ain’t helping. If you crossed Alice in Chains’ “Would?,” minus its genuine darkness, with Linkin Park’s “In the End,” minus its (ahem) artistry, you’d get something approaching this. I suppose every generation of angry, white, straight boys needs their crappy anthems?
[2]

Ian Mathers: I couldn’t stand this kind of self-aggrandizing Hot Topic proto-edgelord bullshit when I was literally its target market, and on this example it has aged exceptionally poorly.
[0]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The verses here are utterly devoid of skill or charm or anything that would make you want to listen to Shinedown in 2020 (it’s a 2019 single off a 2018 album, but rock music operates on Lizzo time scales now, I guess.) The chorus is actually pretty good though — the same sweep that “Second Chance” had, but more fun. On the whole it’s pretty ugly, but if this played during the commercial bumpers at a sports game I wouldn’t recoil.
[4]

Brad Shoup: The chorus is a Spencer Gifts clearance shelf of mental illness jokes, but goddamn, what a melody. Why did they lead it with elementary rap-rock piddle?
[5]

Alfred Soto: Empowerment, self-loathing, self-aggrandizement, set to rap cadences and power chords. I’ve heard more sense and trembled from less body slamming from my young godson. 
[3]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The “I’ll never tell ’em where the bodies are buried” line is an upsetting bit of “lol so random” lyricism; my reaction is probably akin to that of the smug, online man hurling hatred toward young (female) fans of Invader Zim circa 2011. Really, I think “Attention Attention” mostly rubs the wrong way because its self-seriousness is thwarted by the most obvious rhymes. Shinedown also seem impossibly uncool in the wrong way. I’m not ready to dissect my feelings about this song.
[4]