The Singles Jukebox

More like Groupgrudgingtolerance…

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[4.60]

Katherine St Asaph: I like this a lot more when I pretend it’s 1997 and my babysitter’s playing this after “One Headlight,” “Semi-Charmed Life” and “MMMBop” on our way to the pool.
[7]

Edward Okulicz: Hannah Hooper sings “we’re back in business/you’re such a big mess” like she’s trying to turn it into a Katy Perry hook by sheer force of will. In fact, she’s fairly successful at the same time as annoying. The majority of the song crunches by in the same way any ’90s alt-to-pop crossover did, and I’ve got marvellous memories of afternoons wasting away to such frivolities. The chorus yields one killer bit: “it could be YOUR FANTASY!” and the optimism matches the nostalgia.
[6]

Will Adams: Grouplove’s freewheeling SoCal vibe has always resonated with me; they’ve got the kind of sunny disposition I found listening to Sugar Ray on the radio on hot summer days in Orange County. From their sophomore album onward, they’ve upped the electronics, and though the results of that don’t always work, they can do little wrong with a chorus. On “Welcome to Your Life,” it’s as anthemic as the title suggests, with Christian Zucconi’s signature yelp portraying nothing but that sincere sunniness.
[7]

Jonathan Bradley: Pop has lately experienced a lacuna in mass appeal indie rock hits — the kind of modest but melodic and easy to enjoy radio singles made by acts you didn’t have to care about but were welcome additions to a party playlist or festival line-up. (What happened to them? My guess is that the industry adjusted its expectations so that they could become, like Lorde, real stars, or like Twenty One Pilots, unbearable.) “Welcome to Your Life” is hummable and inessential: its diffidence to craft concealing some smart flourishes. The bleeping, drum machine-driven verses suggest those three MGMT songs that were the ne plus ultra of this genre in the late 2000s, while the chorus has a guitar crunch that calls back to the lesser alt-rock hits of the mid-1990s. I’d point as well to the canny youth-oriented lyrical content, but unfortunately Grouplove exists in the 2016 of Halsey and the Chainsmokers, and this is no “Closer.” Thematically, but also melodically: a sharper hook would push this a point or two higher and immensely improve its durable value as future nostalgia fodder.
[6]

Katie Gill: This is the song that soundtracks the montage where our Generic White Boy Protagonist and the Girl Who’s Played By A Supermodel Trying To Act For The First Time fall in love. He’s driving the car and she sticks her head out of the window, hair blowing in the breeze. They run through the aisles of the grocery store, so carefree in their actually-twenty-something-but-playing-high-schoolers love. He tucks her hair behind her ear. They run down the dark streets holding sparklers. He reaches out to gingerly touch her fingers before they tenderly clasp hands, and so on and so forth. If Libba Bray or Maggie Stiefvater ever have a movie in the works, they need to call up Grouplove.
[4]

Lilly Gray: When I got to the chorus I really wanted this to be “The Golden State,” and it’s not, despite having the same splendid chord progression. I’m a fan of the Killers-reminiscent bridge, which pops back in as a deranged revving in the latter half but this guy’s voice makes my hair stand on end when he’s not kicking the door open with “faaaantaseeeee,” so win some, lose most. 
[4]

Hannah Jocelyn: The verses are twee but affecting, more so after learning that it was written for Hannah Hooper’s newborn child. Then her husband, Christian Zucconi, takes over and his nasally voice takes away the “affecting” part. Then the chorus is just kind of obnoxious, but the laid-back nature is a welcome departure for this band. Back to the verses, though; the way Hooper sings “But I love you, yeah I love you!” is lovely enough that I can see myself coming back to this song just for that part. In fact, it’s lovely enough that it manages to lift up the not-as-endearing sections.
[6]

Josh Langhoff: Faced with a depressing lack of roundabouts and slumber party pillow fights, Christian Zucconi compensates by burrowing deeper into his Wayne Coyne impression. My own life may indeed resemble the band’s faceless, droning guitar parts, but it’s wrong of them to presume.
[3]

Jibril Yassin: When they sing about being in love with a big mess, are they talking about this song? 
[1]

Alfred Soto: “I thought you were a big breakfast,” I thought the chorus said, and this mishearing happened way before the year’s whiniest male vocal comes down like cold oatmeal on what it thinks is fun.’s market share. 
[2]