AJR was one of the many music groups that got us through 2020 with new music, including “Bang!” and “Bummerland”. Now, they have released a single from their album OK Orchestra called “Way Less Sad”.
“Way Less Sad” opens with a piano, much like “Bang!”. It’s an upbeat song with some sad lyrics. If you listen, the trio of brothers sing “I don’t wanna hurt anymore/ so I set my bar real low” and “...I’m a-okay/ you say it but you just don’t mean it”. When AJR was teasing the release of this song, they said that it was going to cover the topic of mental health, something which has been affected by the unprecedented times in the world this past year.
In the chorus, AJR sings, “I ain’t happy yet but I’m way less sad”. I think a lot of us felt that one; things aren’t great right now, but the world is starting to see the slimmest bit of normalcy once more, and we can put the garbage can that was 2020 behind us.
There is a line in “Way Less Sad” that says “I wake up and I’m not so mad at Twitter now”. Is that a jab at people who have been banned off of the platform in the wake of recent events? Is it an implication of less social media and news consumption? Is it unfollowing problematic accounts? It could be a little bit of everything mentioned.
After more than a year of hearing “Bang!” on the radio daily, I was excited to see AJR released new music. Don’t get me wrong, “Bang!” is good, but I was just looking to hear something different from the band. This song did not disappoint.