After teasing the chorus of their new song on social media for a good month or two, the Met brothers (Jack, Adam, and Ryan) have finally released their new single “The DJ Is Crying For Help”. This is the second single in their upcoming album, for which there is no released name as of yet.

Having rapidly risen in popularity in the past ten years, AJR has songs going as far as to earn triple platinum status, with as many as almost 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify (as per Spotify’s numbers) and over 3 million followers on YouTube.

Before I even talk about the lyrics of this particular song, I have to give them props for being able to balance the melancholic lyrics of many of their songs while not being overly sad and still having a nice poppy feel to them. Many of their songs feel very energetic while talking about topics such as growing up and longing for better days in the past, one prime example being their hit song “Sober Up”.

Hitting strong straight from the beginning with the lyrics “Everyone is laughing at me. but not like they used to”, it’s very clear the singer feels unfit among peers. They feel laughed at as opposed to being laughed with.

The pre-chorus, being a conversation of sorts between the narrator and their internal voice, goes as follows: “Hired, hired, can I get hired? I got no skills except getting’ high”.

It doesn’t take much thought to tell that the narrator feels like they haven’t developed the skills most people have by their age, and one does not need to read too deeply into the lyrics to figure out how this relates to their feelings in the line after next.

“I’m tryin’, tryin’, I can start Friday… You’ve wasted your life but thanks for applying”.

Now you may be asking how I could tell that this narrator is comparing their life to their peers, I would argue that the lines “Hey, now, hold up, we were fun as hell. I’m all grown up but you couldn’t tell”, points to the narrator seeing their friends as far more mature. Whereas they still feel like they are immature as mirrored in the lyrics “You got older cause you’re good at life, I’m all seventeen at thirty-five”.

I think verse two is surprisingly catchy despite what it is actually saying

“Everyone’s trippin’ on pills, But now they’re prescribed too”

“And everyone’s stackin’ their bills, But not ’cause they like to”.

I think that these two rhymes perfectly encapsulate this entire song, in our youth our sole goal is to have as much fun as possible. But then as we grow up we feel pressured further by the weight that life brings with it, instead of taking drugs for fun the narrator sees people take drugs for medical reasons, instead of stacking money their friends stack debt and bills they must pay.

The narrator sees these sad things and feels conflicted about both wanting to grow up but not wanting the baggage that comes with taking on more responsibility. This is a thing I personally feel that many of us as high school students can relate to! Especially as we get to become juniors and seniors, I know many seniors who have talked about how making plans for the future is a major stress in their life, whereas I relate to the lyrics in just wanting not to care about having responsibilities when that sadly just is not how life works.

Growing up is something we all have to do at one point, and I think AJR does an exemplary job at putting into words how, at-least I feel about growing up. It is nice to feel like someone understands how you feel. Of course they do all of this while sounding great as is usual! In other words, go listen to their music!