The All-American Rejects - Send Her to Heaven EP
Send Her to Heaven is the newest EP from The All-American Rejects, released on July 16, 2019. I first started listening to The All-American Rejects when I was in high school and fell in love with their first two albums, The All-American Rejects and Move Along, around the time that Gives You Hell from When the World Comes Down was dominating the alt-rock airwaves back in 2008. Although the band has been actively touring, The All-American Rejects have progressively slowed down the rate in which they’ve been releasing new music over the last decade or so, having released just one full-length album with 2012’s Kids in the Street. Needless to say, it was welcome news when the band announced their new 3-song EP, Send Her to Heaven.
The EP opens with the title track, “Send Her to Heaven”, a song co-authored by The All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and you can immediately hear the latter musician’s influence beginning with a brief hint of synthesizer to add flavor to the song’s early seconds and continuing throughout with very Weezer-esque vocal production. Lyrically, the song is relatively straightforward, detailing the drug abuse by the aforementioned ‘her’ in the song’s title, a girl named Molly, and how she is about to meet her end. The song makes great use of Ritter’s theatrical approach to singing, with the bridge and outro being great examples of Ritter turning in an excellent performance.
Following the title track is a little gem called “Gen Why? (DGAF)”. I first heard this song on YouTube and when scrolling through the comment section on the official music video back then I noticed that a lot of people didn’t really like this song, combing through the comment section now seems to reveal more people have grown to see this song the way that I do: it’s an intentionally fun song meant to not be taken very seriously and viewed in a satirical way and the band absolutely nails the tone they were aiming for. “Gen Why? (DGAF)” is best compared to a nursery rhyme in terms of melody, but the lyrical content is full of debauchery which plays as a fun subversion of what one might expect from such an innocent sounding song. Tyson Ritter masterfully drives the point home during the bridge when he sings:
“We don't care if you hate us for this song
'Cause we're not listenin'
And we, we don't care If you hate us for this song
'Cause we're not sorry.”
“Demons” is the third and final song on the EP and perhaps the most interesting; this song isn’t nearly as theatrical as the first two tracks, both vocally and instrumentally. Instead, the listener is treated to a much calmer and heart-filled song. I found the song’s themes of running from your demons and losing yourself along the way very relatable and truly authentic, with Tyson Ritter’s toned-down vocal performance truly getting me to buy in and believe that the lyrics are coming from a dark, genuine place within him: “it's like losing a fight, I’m alone in the ring”.
Overall, Send Her to Heaven is a very solid EP, showcasing Tyson Ritter’s skillset well and proving that The All-American Rejects have a lot left to offer in terms of studio recordings. From the theatrics of “Send Her to Heaven” and “Gen Why? (DGAF)” to the emotional depth of “Demons,” Send Her to Heaven is definitely a solid listen for both experienced All-American Rejects fans as well as people just finding the band.