REVIEW: Waterpark's "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" via Fueled by Ramen

Texas trio Waterparks are big, like really big, like bigger than I even thought. Not only did the band move from 300 Entertainment to Fueled by Ramen for this album cycle and have over one million monthly listeners but lately it feels like everyone has this band’s name on the tip of their tongue. I know I’m a bit late reviewing this album, but it seems like the band is teasing something else already so maybe now’s the time to clear this one from the list.

A lot of modern albums use moments from the studio or from the artist’s life in general as segues in their songs, not a lot of them are doing it quite like Waterparks. The album opens with frontman Awsten Knight verbatim asking someone to imagine if the album opened like “this” before it simply does. Everything about this album’s set up is fairly meta in fact, that same song ends referencing the next one before transitioning into it. Not just self-referentially, Intellectual Property is really well sequenced in terms of both mood and storytelling. Every song’s inspiration is so clearly a chain reaction of those before it and I appreciate the album being written and directed in that way.

While we’re being invited into the band’s world on a narrative scale, Awsten offers a pretty bleak look into the pressures of being in a band of this size on songs like “Real Super Dark.” Here he breaks his usual friendly and fun-loving persona to explain that everyone expects a lot from him as an artist, that what that comes with causes him a lot of anxiety and grief in his personal life. He is a great writer though, good enough to back up the size of the band for sure. The opening lyric of the album itself is a clear indicator of that.

I’m gonna move out of my loft and into a limousine so I can drive you fucking crazy and crash out where I sleep.

To mention the sequencing again; Waterparks genre shifts from song to song in a really effective way on Intellectual Property. The album starts off as synthpop, moving into a more chaotic but still synth backed sound leading up to “Funeral Grey.” This is the first real full band cut here and comes in sort of abruptly but by the time you’ve gone through the first two songs it all makes sense in context. It’s also my favorite song lyrically and paints a picture I more so expected out of Awsten’s personality. The story here is obviously vastly exaggerated but there’s so many little quips and jokes throughout that never take away from the quality of it all.

I really love “Fuck About It” as well for its similar vibe in being a fun pop rock song where Awsten gets a chance to show a bit of attitude. The feature from blackbear however falls completely flat to me. He always shows up in these songs, does something of a sketch of what the idea of the song is and makes it feel like a joke more so than a track and completely takes me out of it.

All in all, Intellectual Property is a fun pop record with really strong sequencing and pretty good storytelling straight out of a disaster romantic comedy.

I loved this record

Favorite tracks:

1. ST*RFUCKER
2. REAL SUPER DARK
3. FUNERAL GREY
4. BRAINWASHED
5. 2 BEST FRIENDS
6. END OF THE WATER (FEEL)
7. SELF-SABOTAGE
8. RITUAL
9. FUCK ABOUT IT [feat. blackbear]
10. CLOSER
11. A NIGHT OUT ON EARTH

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