We The Kings – Smile Kid Deluxe Edition

By paul

Regular forum members will know my disdain for ‘Deluxe’, Redux, Ultra Edition packages. In music especially, they’re generally never worth it and 99% of the time scream cynical cash in. Anyway, tick all those boxes, because after hitting the lofty heights of 119 in the US Charts with Smile Kids lead single, Heaven Can Wait, someone decided sticking on two acoustic tracks to the end of an otherwise mediocre album might suck in the cash. It probably didn’t.

Sitting in the poppier end of the pop-punk spectrum, effectively becoming power pop, or just pop – Smile Kid is patently inoffensive and instantly forgettable. Fans of the genre might find enough on offer here to make it worth a spin or two, but the fact remains there are better bands treading exactly these boards with more wit and finesse and better songs. Rocket To The Moon, All Time Low and Forever The Sickest Kids all have better songs – but if you’re addicted to all three then you’ll like what’s on offer here.

The songs are melodic, but pretty basic. Four power chords and vocal melodies that match them, repeated over and over again alongside standard rhythm and a lack of imagination makes for tuneful but ultimately dull record that just isn’t interesting. There isn’t a hook big enough to draw you in, and nothing special here to make it worth recommending above anything else in the scene. Mediocre.

Kieran

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