As It Is – “The Stigma (Boys Don’t Cry)” Video

I get a Funeral for a Friend vibe from this. I like it more than the first single.

This whole Three Cheers-era MCR / Black Veil Brides aesthetic is pretty ridiculous though.

 

To a certain extent aren't they monetizing the whole mental health crisis with this album? Interested to hear genuine opinions on this because I'm willing to be convinced but something doesn't sit totally right with me about their approach to this topic. Maybe it's just that they're super corny and other bands have done this in a more nuanced way? I don't know. Not into it.

 

The sound they're going for is right up my alley and I can even get behind the image shift as an extension of that switch in sound, but their insistence on trying to make this whole thing a statement about mental health / depression in the midst of all that just comes across as pandering, contrived and makes the image side of it far worse - depression doesn't have a "look".

 

I don't think they're monetizing it. I think the lead singer, Patty, has been pretty open about his different struggles and wanted to make an album about that/these types of struggles in general.

I think they're just super corny.

 

Patty's new look looks like a bad Halloween costume

 

Better than the first single but still not great.

Shame as I liked a lot of the last album.

 

I mean, there's no nuance in their approach and they're incredibly corny. Combined, it doesn't work. They don't have the theatrics that a band like MCR could pull off.

That being said, that song was catchy.

 

When I started listening to this kind of music as a young teen, I was completely drawn in by the aestethic and the heart-on-sleeve lyrics that are probably pretty cringe-worthy in retrospect. That is to say a corny approach like this will reach kids that "more nuanced" method never could.

If this band helps some of their fans be open about their mental illness, accept it, and seek treatment, that's a pretty amazing and worthy use of their platform.

 

You really think a mid-sized pop punk band in 2018 is in it for the money?

 

Patty appears to have regressed into looking how I did at 16.

Thought the song was okay, this sort of sound is a little more up my street than their previous albums. It's still too sugary sweet, but it has a little more bite to it and that appeals to me more.

 

Attempting to make more money than they already do, maybe. Seems like that's not the case though.