Music Review: Echosmith "Cool Kids"

Echosmith

Cool Kids

Album: Talking Dreams

Year: 2014

    Sydney Sierota has sympathy for the outsiders in the  yearning  “Cool Kids.”

         A mediative guitar opens the single, setting a faraway tone.   Sierota sees a girl sitting on a bench alone in the common area of the high school. She sees the popular girls in her class, walking together, matching each other step by step. One of the girls is talking about her plans with her boyfriend for the night. Another is dressed in a printed maxidress, likely bought at an upscale boutique. The one in the middle, though, the head cheerleader, says hello to the people she knows..The girl with the maxidress steps on her foot and continues going, not even noticing she was there. They have everything: tons of friends, respect from the faculty and the top grades in the class. She looks to her slogan t-shirt that looked so cute in the store and wants to hide. (“She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style/They all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind/Nothing in this world could ever bring them down/Yeah, they're invincible and she's just in the background/And she says.”)

        In the chorus, the bell rings and she makes her way through the hall, she wants to trade her life for one day with theirs. She wants to experience being liked. (“I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to fit in/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.”)

             He walks to the parking lot. There, is a group of guys from the football team. Wearing the varsity jackets decked with medals, they are grinning and checking out the girls. The captain heads for his 2014 Corvette and tells one of the girls she has to be at his party tonight. He opens the door to his used Jeep 2004 Liberty that doesn’t have air conditioning. (“He sees them talking with a big smile, but they haven't got a clue/Yeah, they're living the good life, can't see what he is going through/They're driving fast cars, but they don't know where they're going/In the fast lane, living life without knowing/And he says.”)

            In the second chorus, he thinks he would like to have the chance to score the touchdown at the big game. He would be the star of school for one day. (“I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to fit in/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids/I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to get it/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids/And they said.”)

         A variation on the chorus is sung to end the single. (“I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to fit in/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids/I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to fit in/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids/I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to get it/I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.”)

           Sierota’s perceptive vocals understand how the outsiders feel. Despite their parents and other loved ones telling them to be themselves, they don’t believe it. The idea that they are better off being someone else is reinforced every day at school.

         The insightful arrangement, with its expansive scope remiscient of INXS’s (Kick-era), could score a scene of a movie or a television without having it be obvious.

       The  compassionate  “Cool Kids”  possesses a larger than life quality to it not seen in many indie bands.