All Time Low are in year 20 as a band together. With that in mind, the pervasive vibe of their recent releases is nostalgic and fresh, somehow in the same breath. That theme carried on with their new speed ballad, “Modern Love,” which dropped on the day of the annual commercial romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day. The track graces us about a month out from the release of their 9th studio album, Tell Me I’m Alive, which hits the shelves on March 17th. A few singles into the release cycle, all signs point towards this being a concept album. The song gives off the atmosphere of a surefire track No. 1 on the tracklist.
Opening on tone-setting bouncy keys that lay down the metronome for the track, the song is a commentary of dating in the 21st century and challenges facing singles. “Look at you now, super strung out, what would your mother say? / some killer queen, making a scene, don’t got a price to pay / hook in my mouth, stringing me out on every word you say / those are the boys, these are the girls, don’t matter anyway,” lead vocalist Alex Gaskarth sings of the inconsistent leads and stringing along that is commonplace on dating apps.
Down the stretch, the vibe continues “Stacy please I’m suffocating / choking on infatuation / you’re obsessed with drugs and dating / modern love’s too complicated” on the culture of drug use and hookup culture, using a quick fix to quell sexual urges for the moment, with no long term solution in the thought process.
The accompanying music video features a new sight for ATL fans with Gaskarth playing piano. Channeling legendary rocker Elton John, with a spiffy red suit and glasses in tow, Gaskrath passionately hammers away on the piano then dances with a glass of wine, somehow managing to not spill a drop in the process.
“’Modern Love’s a beautiful disaster’ are the words of a desperate, love-sick soul and the main character of our newest song ‘Modern Love,’ who is obsessed with the quest for connection in a world that’ll often break your heart,” said Gaskarth in a press release.
The track coincided with the announcement of the next cross country tour, hitting 21 cities across May and June of this year, enlisting scene mainstays Mayday Parade for support.
Numerically, the track has performed well, racking up over 140k streams on Spotify as of Friday afternoon, to go along with 80k views for the video on Youtube.