#listening to twtltrtd and feeling so emo about 2013

[fly-rye]

yeah im a fan of idkhow. yeah my favorite panic albums are v&v and twtltrtd. how did you guess

[alywats]

My Definitive Ranking of Panic! At The Disco Albums

Here we are again, I guess. I did this with Taylor Swift albums, and it was kind of a good exercise in Writing About Music, so I figured the next logical artist to rank was Panic! At The Disco. I used their six studio albums, exactly as they were first released, and I did a full relisten to their discography as I did my ranking. Again, there will be personal taste biases as well as nostalgia biases, but I tried to stay as objective as possible. I genuinely love all of their albums, so this was DIFFICULT, but here ya go:

1. Pretty. Odd.

This album is the pinnacle of what Panic! At The Disco is. Unique, pushing the boundaries of what genre means, and Keeping Us Interested. Released in 2008, this album is full of Beatles-on-drugs vibes, with folk and baroque styles meshing together with a definitively pop rock foundation. The lyrics border on incoherent in some places, as they are very surrealist, but have just enough grounding to make the ethereal mood work. But the purpose of Pretty. Odd. isn’t to be relatable “emo mood” pop punk anyways, it’s purpose is to be a whole and complete work of art that is sonically interesting and the lyrics are just a facet of that. That said, there is still emotion keeping you invested in the story of the songs. Pretty. Odd. is cohesive as an album, in a way that almost no other album (ever) is, but simultaneously, every song is unique and has its own artistic merit that contributes to the landscape as a whole of the album.

Best Song: When the Day Met the Night, I think this one of the strongest songs lyrically in Panic!’s discography, and it’s so sweet! The instrumentation is beautiful and complex and so representative of the atmosphere of Pretty. Odd. as a whole.

2. Vices & Virtues

Vices & Virtues maintains the elements of uniqueness that I associate with Panic!, and I think is a great follow-up album to Pretty. Odd. It lets us know that no, they really will be doing whatever they want, that Pretty. Odd.’s ~oddness~ was not a fluke. This album was released in 2011, and although still very unique in its instrumentation, it is the band's first real step into a more pop sound. This was the album after Ryan Ross’s departure, and… lyrically you can tell that we have a new songwriter. Besides the bold artistic choices (ahem… the elevator music at the end of some songs?) that define the album, the best thing about it is Brendon Urie’s vocals. They get to shine in this album more than any other album, I think. This album is the definition of ambitious, but they met the ambition with solid sound and lyrically interesting tunes. We love to see it.

Best Song: Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...), it is instrumentally detailed and atrfully crafted, lyrically brilliant, and has such a grand/sweeping melody that makes you FEEL and SING ALONG, truly one of their best songs.

3. A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out

Panic! At The Disco’s debut album is pop punk like you’ve never heard it before. Released in 2005, this album is very original in concept but still a cohesive unit split into a traditional half and a more electronic half with the seamless Intermission. They are definitely trying to make a statement that they are UNIQUE, and here to make an impact on the scene. They have long titles, weird lyrics, and literary references all woven into a baroque pop/theatrical sound because they just ~aren’t like other girls~ and you know what it WORKS. It is a very impressive debut album. They swore to shake it up, and we swore to listen.

Best Song: But It’s Better If You Do because it fits so seamlessly into the album as a whole, is catchy, has great lyrics, and can be turned up LOUD. But honestly a lot of the album is equally as good as this song, in my opinion.

4. Death of a Bachelor

Death of a Bachelor, released in 2016, feels like a comeback album for me. Not that TWTLTRTD was really that disappointing, but the return to a more definitively rock sound was welcome. This was also sort of the return to the theatrical, Vagas-y feeling that A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out provided, and the return to the Panic! At The Disco roots allowed more pop punk energy to come forward. This was needed, as this was the first album that was just Brendon Urie on his own, without bandmates. I think this album is lyrically weaker than most of the early stuff, but it’s certainly not bad. Death of a Bachelor is scream-able and head-bang-able in your car or live on stage, and that’s all we can really ask for.

Best Song: Emperor’s New Clothes because when I heard this song for the first time I was so excited by it that I sent it to my friends. It was catchy and lyrically interesting, goes HARD and shows off Urie’s vocal range like never before.

5. Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!

You know, the autotune on Brendon’s voice was a choice.... but there are still some absolute bangers on this album. This is Gospel, Nicotine, and Girls / Girls / Boys are three iconically Panic! At The Disco BOPS, and they pull the weight of the entire album. Yes, this album is much more dance-pop and electronic than before, leaving the baroque elements and instrumentations behind, which to me is a step in the wrong direction. Combining that with the less developed instrumentation and less “deep” (for lack of a better word) lyricism that defined the previous three albums, it’s hard to put TWTLTRTD at the top. Released in 2013, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! was meant for parties and roadtrip scream-alongs. Standing alone, it falls short, but within Panic!’s discography it is an integral part.

Best Song: This Is Gospel, I think this is such a sad beautiful song and I cried both times I saw it live and it just has a special place in my heart. Specifically the piano version on YouTube is one of the best things that exists!!

6. Pray for the Wicked

Alright, Pray for the Wicked is not as good as the rest of the Panic! At The Disco albums… But it's still a pretty good album. All the tracks on this album are catchy, even if some artistic integrity is lost (see: Dancing’s Not A Crime). When this album was released in 2018, Panic! At The Disco was mainstream in fame, so they went mainstream sonically which lead to a very mainstream pop vibe. And keeping with that theme, every song has about five writers on it which leads to a very overproduced sound. I am hopeful that the lyrical genius and instrumentational ambition is still in Brendon Urie, because we still have glimpses of that in Pray For The Wicked, and when he puts out another album I will listen without any hesitation!

Best Song: Say Amen (Saturday Night), although I was tempted to say Roaring 20s because of my own personal love of that song as related to ~my~ 20s that are happening in our current “roaring” 20s. But, Say Amen (Saturday Night) is a bop, a banger, a slap, if you will. And that’s simply all there is to it. Most of this album is on even footing.