On April 8, The Linda Lindas (TLL) released their new studio album “Growing Up!” Considered a punk band, “Growing Up!” is an alternative rock and punk mashup of songs, featuring topics ranging from racism to human rights and politics. An intro into the youth of our generation, TLL is soon looking to be the face of liberation among so many people.

“Oh!”

“Oh!” is the first song on the album. It is a song expressing discontent with how the world is today and the anxiety of being pressured to fix it when it is “oh’ so hard to.”

“Oh, when I say something

I wish I had shut up (oh!)

And when I try to help

I always screw things up (oh!)

The places that feel right

They never last too long (oh!)

And when I think of things

They always turn out wrong”

The Linda Linda’s (TLL) show their anxiety on trying to fix problems in the world, like racism or gentrification for example. Whenever they try to fix something or help, it never turns out well and backfires in their faces. The chorus is similar to that of expectations and needs to have everything be okay and right.

“What can I do, what can I do?

What can I say, what can I say?

What can I do, what can I do?

Nothing changes, it’s all the same (x2)”

When “nothing changes” and everything is “all the same,” it is easy to be discouraged against our intentions to change the narrative of how society acts and responds to everyone. The anxiety portrayed in this song is perfectly encapsulated in the guitar riffs and hard punk-like vibes from the album.

“Growing Up”

“Growing Up” is a song sung by Eloise Wong, one of the four vocalists of the group. Eloise, being the second youngest at 14 years old, sings in the song about how growing up can be scary, but doing it together will make us all stronger in the end.

“We can take turns taking the reins

Lean on each other when we need some extra strength

We’ll never cave or we’ll never waver

And we’ll always become braver and braver”

Growing up together as a society only helps us feel less alone, yet it also gives us an undying belief that even as an adolescent, we can “show what it means to be young and growing up.”

The chorus opens with a repetition of various examples on how growing up can be experienced together:

“We’ll dance like nobody’s there

We’ll dance without any cares

We’ll talk ’bout problems we share

We’ll talk ’bout things that ain’t fair

We’ll sing ’bout things we don’t know

We’ll sing to people and show

What it means to be young and growing up”

Growing up can be scary and frightening as well as the overall feeling of not being able to know what to do. But as it may seem behind an alternative beat, when we do grow up together, we can achieve so much more. During the bad times and good times, we will have each other.

“Talking To Myself”

“Talking To Myself” represents our discouragement of pushing forward and our anxiety and self-doubt against our small mistakes in life. We talk to ourselves when we make a mistake, as well as talking to our crushes in our head, or when we over-obsess over things nobody even cares about.

“When I talk to myself

I think about the things that

No one ever talks about like

How life just keeps on givin’

Despite all my bad decisions

I’m still here and I’m still livin’

I used to always

Complain about

Trapped in a maze

Could not get out

We’re all talking to ourselves

About things we cannot help

So talk to me

‘Cause I’m talking to myself”

Letting your anxiety get to you and control your life can be one of the worst things you can do to yourself. And it can stop you from enjoying life as well. When you replay these memories in your mind and belittle yourself, it only makes things worse. Try latching onto the narcissistic feelings in you and tell the world about how sometimes, talking to ourselves can hurt; try to live.

“Fine”

Contrary to the title, “Fine” is a punk song about how youth feel neglected and not cared about. The song represents how many adults say everything is fine but in reality, it is not.

“You hear us shouting but you don’t feel a word

You know we’re dying but you say that we’re cured

You keep on going, you think it’s fine

You think it’s fine

You say it’s fine

You tell us it’s fine

It’s not fine

It’s

Not

Fine”

When we are told things are fine, our emotions, or how society is in general, tend to only build rage in a lot of youth. We see that the world is dying, we see people being murdered, and we see ourselves being pushed down just for being and feeling, yet we are told everything is fine when in reality it is not. We feel neglected and need to push forward to say how things are not fine. Even if things are not fine, it will be okay in the end because we have the power to fix it.

“Nino”

A small break from the hard topics of the album, “Nino” is a song about a fine gentleman cat named Nino.

“I have a cat

His name’s Nino

He’s a savage cat

Killer of mice and rats

Nino, Nino, Nino, the savage cat

Killer of mice and rats

Gentlemen by day

Hunter by night

Friendliest cat you’ll meet

Will protect you with all his might”

Nino, protector of all, could be a symbol of how we are seen as weak by others but can also be as savage as Nino, helping to get rid of the “‘mice and rats”’ of society. (It could also be about their cat, too.)

“Cuantas Veces”

“Cuantas Veces” is the only Spanish song in the album, and as half of the group is Hispanic, it is only fitting that “Cuantas Veces” is in Spanish, as it relates so deeply with the members. It’s a song about how they are seen as different and need to fit into what society thinks of them, especially in a white-washed country.

TLL are getting mocked and bullied for being who they are, by being socially shunned because of who they are. In an NPR ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ in the LA Public Library, they have “Bleached” percussionist Spencer Lere perform with them, and as CBS Mornings put in an interview with them, “[they are] getting support from their punk idols and using music to send a feminist, anti-hate style message.”

“Racist, Sexist Boy”

“Racist, Sexist Boy” has prose before the song describing its meaning;

“A little while before we went into lockdown

A boy in my class came up to me

And said that his dad told him to stay away from Chinese people

After I told him that I was Chinese

He backed away from me

Eloise and I wrote this song based on that experience

So this is about him and all the other racist, sexist boys in this world”

Because they precursor the song with this prose/insight, they are showing how this song was born in a sense; how it came to be. It has a history, and meaning when a lot of songs nowadays are made for money, and not experience and emotion.

“You say mean stuff and

You close your mind to things you don’t like

You turn away from what you don’t wanna see”

Out of the whole “Growing Up!” album, Racist, Sexist Boy is definitely one of the A-Side’s of the album. It’s fitting for the punk rhythm and one line, in particular, catches my attention; “You close your mind to things you don’t like, You turn away from what you don’t want to see.” It has a lot of power in its meaning and reaches to our own hearts and feelings, and how we think.

Lots of differing opinions come from either lack of understanding or disbelief in admitting people are wrong, as well as other things. But people and kids that are ‘stuck in their ideas’ never want to turn to what is MORALLY correct, although morals can differ between each person’s beliefs. This kid turned around to being more accepting and open, pushing hatred onto others and turning themselves into a Racist, Sexist Boy.

There are about three other songs (all worth the listen!) in the album, but to keep it short, this album has such a great grasp on the punk youth that this group will be going places.

Senior Skylar Smigles, mentions that they:

“Really like it, the sound reminds me of a very distinct experience,” Smigles said. “The sort of coming of age never really fitting in and making a band sort of feel.”

It is a band made by youth for the youth, and its opposition to the status quo in the world today.