Hellcat Records – 14 Aug 2023
Lindsey Jennings and Tim Armstrong combine forces for “1977”-style song (Tim’s words), “One Time.” I wish I could say it is enjoyable.
There’s a lot of pedigree behind this, with Jennings being an accomplished comedian, social media personality, and digital creator; and Armstrong seems to know what he’s doing musically. I don’t believe for a second that his continued success is based solely on OpIvy nostalgia.
So I get what their motivation is here, but so many parts of this song fall flat. Except for a few really good sets of verses (see “First they call us witches…“), the lyrics are fairly generic and pedestrian. The music composition is catchy for about 20 seconds and then incredibly repetitive and dull from there on out. I’ve watched Lindsey’s stand-up before (via the internet, sadly not in person), and she doesn’t normally sound like this when speaking. If this is how she sings, so be it. It may work on another song. But for my first time hearing her vocals, it seems so affected and forced. Not what I was expecting.
I first heard this song along with the music video so, being a First Impressions Review, I gotta use both in my assessment. It may not have helped for the video to have Lindsey frolicking through a carnival, singing along to the song. I imagine the song itself may have fared differently if I’d heard the audio by itself first. For the video, though… she’s charismatic and I think would’ve been better served with a better video. It’s not like Hellcat couldn’t afford it.
Overall, I’m still holding on to the hope that subsequent songs reverse this trend of one. The components of the engine driving this have proven themselves before, so it’s entirely possible for this collaboration to bear better fruit in the future. But, in the case of “One Time,” what happens if you punch hard… and miss?
- Song Comes From: (currently) Hellcat Singles Club
- Link page to streaming and more: BONK! BONK!
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the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
