After a two year break, The Vamps, a British pop rock band consisting of Bradley Simpson, James McVey, Connor Ball and Tristan Evans resurfaced with their new album Cherry Blossom. The album is unlike anything the band has released before. In Japanese culture, cherry blossoms, as depicted on the cover of the album, symbolize destiny and rebirth. The theme describes the band’s ‘rebirth’ from being a mainstream pop band to a more rock centered band.

After a short introduction, the album starts with Glory Days. This song, one of my favorites on this album, was written to shine light on the positive aspects of life and how it’s important to be your best self. The song itself is very positive and upbeat, and was the perfect way to start off the album.

Better immediately followed. This song, with the lyrics “We can do better, I won’t settle for less than best, I say it so I don’t forget” amplifies confidence. The slight pause before the chorus gave me a complete surprise. It heightened the suspense level and easily became one of the more notable songs on the album.

The next song on the album was The Vamps’ lead single, Married In Vegas. This song hits extremely close to home as Bradley Simpson, the lead vocalist, wrote it for his wife. This song talks about the narrator meeting a girl at a bar for the first time who would gamble anything to be with her. The phrase “married in Vegas” symbolizes the hasty decision the narrator makes not knowing if they will be together for “just the night, or the rest of our lives.” When listening to this song for the first time, I was completely shocked. It was unlike anything The Vamps had written before and it showed a level of maturity that I had not seen in their previous music.

The album continued with Chemicals. Normally when a new album comes out, I preview 30 seconds of each song before moving on to the next. However, this song had a very suspenseful introduction and gradually had me more invested until the beat drop of the chorus. This song was a perfect example of what you’d write in your English class. There was a clear introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. There was never a boring part in this song.

Following that was Would You and Bitter. Both songs were upbeat confrontational love songs. These two songs showed how comfortable The Vamps are as a band creating music in a new genre. The vocals were not overwhelming and you could clearly hear the talent every member contributes. Following Bitter, Protocol was the next track on the album. This song took a more serious turn. The level of maturity and vulnerability in this song was unlike the others. You could hear the raw emotion from not just the lead singer, but also everyone who contributed with the background vocals and the instruments. 

Nothing But You was my favorite song out of the album. If you couldn’t hear the talent from the band in their other songs, it was clearly exemplified in this song. Simpson flawlessly and continuously hit many high notes throughout the song. Evans did a wonderful job matching the drums to fit Simpson’s voice. McVey and Ball completely killed it with the bass and lead guitar without overshining one another. If the saying “teamwork makes the dream work” had a theme song, it would definitely be Nothing But you.

The album ended with Treading Water. The song is probably the most mature song on the album as it touches on subjects like loneliness and finding your truest self even in dark times, a complete opposite of the first song, Glory Days. The storytelling of this song was both raw and phenomenal. The song tells listeners that it’s okay to feel vulnerable and lonely at times. Like the other songs in the album, this song brought out a new and unique melody, something that The Vamps excel at.

Overall, this album has set a new standard for pop rock bands. I was extremely impressed with how well each song was produced. Everything from the lyrics to the slight pauses in the music was well thought-out and made the experience worth waiting for. With each song emitting a distinct sound, I could easily listen to the whole album without getting bored. A rollercoaster of emotions marking the highs and lows of relationships are clearly felt. This truly is a new era for The Vamps, and their future looks very promising and bright.