A girl who “steps on” her friends is warned that her support base is going to dry up (“Singled Out”). The singer rebukes a person for lacking contentment (“Something I Call Personality”), is deeply sorry for missing a friend’s birthday (“Belated”) and longs to be authentic in his relationships (“Understatement”). On “Sorry,” a man grieves the death of someone close, but takes comfort in the knowledge that they’ll be reunited in heaven (“It’s better where you’re going anyway/. . . For now we’ll say goodbye/We know it’s not the last time”).
Isolated lines allude to inappropriate sexual intimacy. An apparently unmarried man misses his bedmate (“It’s Been a Summer”). On “The Story So Far,” the singer asks a woman he finds attractive, “Is it true that you like to sleep alone, or is it what you just tell everyone?” Families may be bothered that the kids shown wrestling on the cover are kissing passionately in an interior photo.
In a head-banging genre characterized by obnoxious crassness (Offspring, Green Day, Sublime, Blink-182, etc.) the five guys in New Found Glory are surprisingly tame. Not perfect, but a vast improvement. Teens partial to this sound would do even better to check out Christian punkers Dogwood or Hangnail.