Album Review: Maggie Lindemann – SUCKERPUNCH

Pop Punk Revival 

Pop punk as a genre has been making a comeback and that’s exhibited in Maggie Lindemann’s newest album SUCKERPUNCH. Coming from a pop background, Lindemann has since transitioned into alternative music with her last work Paranoia and a more honest version of herself. Playing music more her style and speed. 

Lindemann has seemed to capture the essence of what made pop punk such a specific sound. The influences such as Paramore, No Doubt, Evanescence and more are clearly captured in this album. The harsh guitar, fast tempo and power chords awaken the listener, combined with Lindemann’s lyrics tackling self reflection. However, it is all in the context of a more modern sound. The introduction begins soft and smooth, as if something from her “Pretty Girl” pop era. But it quickly evolves into something more holy, before slamming a hard right into the hardcore style of the first real track “take me nowhere.” 

Much like other revival pop punk artists, Lindemann produced a track with a member of a 2000s alternative rock band. Maggie Lindemann reached out to Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens on the fourteenth track, “how could you do this to me.” According to an interview with Nylon Magazine, Lindemann wrote the song and heard Quinn’s voice as the right counter to hers. As they go back and forth their voices almost blend together at times. 

That’s not to say there’s never a quiet moment in the album, For instance, “we never even dated” is a lament for a relationship that never happened. Lindemann describes it as if she is going through a breakup, “So I’ll delete your number, pretend you don’t exist / Tell mysеlf it’s nothing but we both know it is,” despite the title of the song. Relationships are complicated, and pain can happen without anything being official. It is a quiet, thoughtful piece in comparison to the rest of the tracks on the album. 

This album has an assortment of great listens, a clear standout being the third track, “she knows it.” Harsh fast chords with a poppy beat about longing for someone taken, while being an explicitly queer song. Love songs like this are generally only from heterosexual perspectives, so any deviation from that is always welcome, especially in alternative music spaces. SUCKERPUNCH is exactly what it needs to be, and it takes pride in it.