After almost five years since the release of The Dream Walker, space-rock band Angels & Airwaves are setting fire to radio waves once more with their latest single, “Rebel Girl.” With the release of “Rebel Girl,” joining the Rise Records family, and a planned fall tour, I have to say, I haven’t been this excited to be an Angels & Airwaves fan in a very long time.
But, has the Tom DeLonge fronted band missed their mark with “Rebel Girl?” Or, is this exactly what the boys needed to get their feet back into the music scene? Let’s find out.
The Review
“Do you want to go to back to where we started,” the perfect way to describe my feelings towards Angels & Airwaves’ latest single. “Rebel Girl” isn’t anything too special, and as far as songs created by Angels & Airwaves throughout the years, it’s quite simple and raw when compared to something like “Start The Machine.” The track at times comes off as a love letter to the ’80s, giving me reminiscent feelings towards The Cars’ “You Might Think.” A wonderful, whimsical, and completely different path to what one has come to expect from the space-rock band.
Instrumentally, “Rebel Girl” is fun and different. Instantly getting trapped in the depths of my ear canal. As I mentioned earlier however, there’s nothing too special about the track, and there are quite a few things that could have been changed to make it miles better than its current form. DeLonge’s vocal delivery at times just doesn’t match up perfectly with the track’s instrumentals, but there are only a fingers amount of times this happened. Also, not sure if intentional, but I did hear a little of “Anxiety” towards the track’s ending half, which did happen to sound nice.
Lyrically, at times the track is a bit cheesy and cliche, but in an overall good way. “The shoe fits my little Cinderella,” is a perfect example of this, it comes off a little too playful, but in contrast with the song’s narrative and the leading in “I gotta tell ya,” it’s perfect. It’s certainly far from the worst thing Tom DeLonge and company have written. “Rebel Girl” is a very fun pre-summer tune that will get tons of replays from me.
That Ending Though
If you’ve been waiting for new Angels & Airwaves music to blast out of your car’s stereo as long as I have, you can rest easy, it’s pretty damn good for what it is. Not the best single I’ve heard from the band, but it’s far from the worst, and I’m eagerly awaiting the band’s upcoming album, fall tour, and anything else they might throw our way. It’s been way too long since we’ve had Tom DeLonge in the music sphere that’s for sure.
If you’d like to check out “Rebel Girl” for yourself, you can head over to any of the major streaming services to check it out, or by checking out the pretty stylized video for the song as well. Also, don’t forget to check out the band’s tour dates to see if you’ll be hearing “Rebel Girl” live this fall.
