Tell Me About Tomorrow in Bloomington, MN

On his full-length debut, 2021's rambunctiously hooky
Tell Me About Tomorrow
, singer
Jaden Hossler
(aka
Jxdn
) sounds like the punky, confident little brother of
blink-182
. The comparison makes sense as the album features
drummer
Travis Barker
who produced, co-wrote, and plays on all the tracks.
Hossler
even samples
blink
's 2003 song "Feeling This" to nice effect for his own "Wasted Year." Also emerging as a kind of big brother figure is
Machine Gun Kelly
, who lends his burnished emo-croon to the anthemic "Wanna Be."
, a Tennessee native, sings with the kind of defiant nasal tone that marks some of the best punk-pop. It's a sound he excels at throughout
as he details his issues with mental health, drugs, and relationships both good and bad. The latter-half of the album dips more toward the moody hip-hop and rap-influenced approach of artists like
Blackbear
and
Juice WRLD
, but the songs remain engaging. Underpinning all of
is
Barker
's taut muscular drumming and adept production, lending both a credibility and slick studio-sheen to
's irresistible pop-punk songs. ~ Matt Collar