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Hot Mess CD Review

By: Craig Johnson

When The Rise Of Cobra began, (sorry, but the G.I. Joe pun was too much to resist), it was with a joke remake of a Gwen Stefani song and a single getting put into arguably one of the worst movies in the last few years plot-wise. With the release of their first album While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets the band managed to create some of the best music it would ever release and while not immediately becoming popular from it, it came in time by touring. While touring for that album writing was constant for a second album soon to be titled, Viva La Cobra!, which would be a slight change in sound for the band. Where their first album was strictly whatever they wanted Cobra Starship to be, Viva seemed to lean more toward getting more catchy and while being produced by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy it’s hard not to like it. Then came the announcement for Cobra’s third album, Hot Mess.

As the first track was announced, Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous, people’s hopes were raised as it flashed some sounds that leaned toward While The City Sleeps. Then the second track hit, Good Girls Go Bad. After that it was evident that this album was strictly being used to get on the radio. Good Girls Go Bad isn’t a good song musically or lyrically, but it’s extremely catchy which is why it currently is and will continue to be on the charts for awhile. It seems like people will start to recognize Cobra, as the album hits MTV’s The Leak we get a full listen.

The opening track, Nice Guys Finish Last is also extremely catchy and seems like it would be slightly hard to pull off live due to the background singing. The song Fold Your Hands Child brings a different mix to the table as it’s got a softer sound while the chorus still gets everyone singing. Then as the synth opens the next song, we get another catchy chorus and all the Fall Out Boy fans rejoice as Pete Wentz is featured with his scream vocals at the end of the track. The title track, Hot Mess starts up and is the only track I find comparable to Good Girls Go Bad in being catchy. This why I can easily see it being a single.

Living In The Sky With Diamonds brings us a more mellow song while still keeping the synth constant and the drum beat going. Wet Hot American Summer is possibly one of the best songs on the album while not too catchy that it sounds repetitive but still good enough to be an album favorite. The Scene Is Dead; Long Live The Scene is also a fairly decent song. Move Like You Gonna Die sounds slightly cocky with it’s lyrics but isn’t anything most people would catch twice when listening to it. Lastly The World Will Never Do is a pretty good song as it isn’t extremely catchy but still keeps you into it and also has featured rap verse by B.o.B.

In conclusion, I give Hot Mess a 7/10 for album content and lyrics and a 10/10 for catchiness, if that’s the correct way to put it.