10 Best Rock Albums Of 2021 (So Far)
5. Who Am I? - Pale Waves
For the past few years, it didn't really look like Pale Waves really had a shot with the press. As much as their first album My Mind Makes Noises was a good debut, there were too many detractors that were dogging them as a younger version of a band like the 1975. Since even Matty Healy has recontextualized his band, it's only fitting that they follow suit with Who Am I?.
This isn't just some bait and switch though. You can still hear the usual trappings of great Pale Waves songs in here...they're just given the full pop punk treatment. Across songs like She's My Religion, you can hear that these guys were trying to capture a nice nostalgic vibe, almost like what Willow Smith was trying to do on her latest album.
Where Who Am I? shines though is the writing, which seems to capture the essence of what it's like to be young and frustrated about where your life is going to go in the next few years. It's no accident that this album cover takes place in a school hallway. These are still just kids trying to figure themselves out and learn how to become major players in the game. Even if you have a few stumbling blocks here and there, it's albums like these that show that they're at least on the right track.