Music Review: Madden Brothers "We Are Done"

Madden Brothers

We Are Done

Album: Greetings from California

Year: 2014

            Joel Madden has had enough of something or someone in the malleable  “We Are Done.”

           A cushy guitar opens the single, setting a pacific tone. Madden tells his friend that’s it. He looks to his brother and he says “we’re leaving.” He says they won’t be speaking to him ever again. The friendship has become one-sided, with him continually taking advantage of them. (“I want you to know/It’s time to go/Yeah we are done/I want you to see/That I need oh, to be free.”)

             In the pre-chorus, he repeats again that it’s over. (“Done done done done done done/We are done/We are done (Done done done done done done)/We are...”)

              In the  chorus, he checks his phone and reads the letters to editors. It raises his blood pressure, his anger going nationwide. He says he won’t let himself be quieted by those shouting the loudest. Everyone is going to hear his opinion. (“Done with being a silent many/Every voice rings out and carries/No we won’t just go back/Home without you hearing/The sound when the many say/We are done.”)

          He says the world was a less cruel place at one time. As a child, he remembers people would be up in arms about what is currently going on. Nowadays, violence occurs everyday and it a brief mention. No one cares anymore. (“You, first brought the sun/For everyone, uh here to see/Why, does it always change/To guns and chains, eventually.”)

              The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

              The chorus is sung again.

             The pre-chorus is sung again to end the single.

            Madden’s petulant vocals make a fuss and grandstand, fighting for the greater good. But the greater good is fuzzy and more like a concept than an actual stance.  Is it for himself, as the first verse says, or is it for a number of issues, which the chorus implies. An actual opinion about a social issue, even though it may be polarizing, would’ve given him credibility.

         The vaguely wholesome “We Are Done,” with its picture-perfect 1950s jingle, says a lot of nothing.