All time low is a band that just keeps on giving. Shortly after their eighth studio album release Wake Up, Sunshine the basement boys teased Once In A Lifetime. After teasing fans with an abrupt and slightly confusing audio piece, the band announced their new single Once In A Lifetime, within a few mere hours of the radio play. Fast forward to today and here we are... All Time Low's new single, and it is far from disappointing.
In typical All Time Low fashion, the track is upbeat, energetic, and embodies the ‘classic’ pop-punk sound of the band with an edgy rock undertone. Although seemingly repetitive with the title throughout the song, it is the perfect depiction of a feel-good summer song. Imagine being sat in your car, windows down with the air blasting through your hair and this song blasting through the speakers. That is the song wrapped in one.
A breakup song is nothing new for the band to sing about but this track in particular went down the route of feeling low in the breakup stages of a failed relationship, and the trails that one will take. A rather universal concept seemingly but done in a more All Time Low way. The instrumental almost seems polar opposite to the lyrics, but as we have learned from the bands Wake Up, Sunshine era, the best songs are written out of a hard place. However, it does feel like a continuation from W.U.S. Although it is too early to tell whether or not this new track will be part of the same era, begin a new era or be a stand-alone single like Birthday and Everything Is Fine, one thing so far is for certain. All Time Low has still got it.
From the get go, the chamber of echoes repeating the title is an abrupt way to open, leaving little to no time for the listener to question if it's worth the 3 minutes of listening. Which it is. Alongside this is a short instrumental pause between the first chorus and second verse, which offers a gentle brief break from vocals before it jumping back into the faster-paced verse progressions. These progressions are snappy and poetic all at the same time, whilst offering dimension and a Monsters like feel to this single. Heavily vocal-led, ringing guitar and steady backline, Once In A Lifetime brings back the sentimental tones of their last album in a rollover sense. But what will come next?
