By: Kaley Muse
On Oct. 4, Finneas O’Connell released his sophomore album, “For Cryin’ Out Loud.”
The new album, almost lapsing O’Connell’s debut album, “Optimist” released in late Oct. 2021. As a longtime fan of FINNEAS, “For Cryin’ Out Loud” did not disappoint.
The album is chock full of FINNEAS’ trademarks: funky beats, rich rhythms and brilliant lyrics.
With only ten songs and so much to unpack with each one, I am going to break down what every song has to offer listeners.
The entire album itself follows the same theme: the rise and fall of romantic relationships.
The album starts off strong with the first track: “S*********.” This is the ultimate revenge song that depicts an ex-girlfriend that seemingly used FINNEAS for his and his sister’s fame.
The song itself starts off softer but gets louder as more emotions like anger and sadness pour into the song. By the last chorus, the song returns to its beginning softer, somber tone.
The next song up is “What’s It Gonna Take to Break Your Heart?.”
This song particularly is very on brand for FINNEAS.
This track has his signature layered chorus and heavy drums with funky beats and rhythms.
Song itself is about FINNEAS realizing that he might not matter as much to his partner as he thought he did.
The entire song he seems to be pleading with his significant other to care about him as much as he cares about her.
The third track is “Cleats.” This is another song that features FINNEAS’ signature funky beats and rhythms that gives a more early 2000s vibe.
The song itself talks about an unrequited high school crush from the perspective of his grown-up self.
As he is looking back on the crush from the perspective his adult life has given him, he realizes that the girl he had a crush on was not into guys (if you catch my drift).
The fourth track is probably the saddest track on the entire album: “Little Window.”
This song’s “little window” is referring to a smartphone and how social media is super damaging to people and how much mass media the average person consumes daily.
If the term doom scrolling had a song, it would be this song hands down.
The fifth track, “2001,” is about yearning for intimate connection and romantic love. The song also features a few references to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” singing, “Texas calls to take me home/Texas calls, you’re out of range.”
A Texas space station is where the shuttle in the space mission called during their trip.
These space references add to the lyrics and deeper meaning to feel an intimate connection with someone while feeling like they’re in the middle of space with no one around for miles.
Look at us! Halfway through the album already!
The sixth track is “Same Old Story” and it’s the most like a piano ballad on the entire album.
The song is about being stuck in a cyclical relationship or season in your life where you don’t really see a way out and the same things happen again and again until it becomes emotionally and/or physically exhausting.
The seventh song, titled “Sweet Cherries,” is by far the most interesting song on the album.
The song itself is split into two parts.
The first part is peppy and depicts FINNEAS being very interested in a beautiful woman and features recurring imagery about what he thinks she’s like and how sweet she seems to be.
The second part is also peppy but in a different way, having a deeper sound than the first part.
This part depicts the relationship falling apart as FINNEAS expects more from the relationship while the girl wants the whole thing to end.
Here we are at the eighth and titular track “For Cryin’ Out Loud.”
This track depicts the constant ebb and flow of a romantic relationship and all the good and bad that comes with that.
This song features a beautifully rich brass backing track during the chorus that makes the song that much more of a bop. Clearly, this is my second favorite song on the album.
The ninth track happens to be my favorite of the album called “Family Feud.” It’s a soft acoustic track that depicts the relationship between him and his sister, Billie Eilish, and how the entire world is always watching her and everything she does whether she likes it or not.
He sings about when it was “just the two of them” before all the fame, money and fans.
When their parents were just their parents, when they were just siblings instead of celebrities.
As a sibling and older sister, this song really struck a deep chord with me.
It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy every time I listen to it.
This track is also the only track on the album that features just FINNEAS’ one voice instead of an overlayed chorus that signifies a more intimate subject matter and setting.
The tenth and final song is “Lotus Eater.”
This song is a nod to Homer’s “Odyssey” Lotus Eater characters who would eat lotus flowers that would then put them in a state of bliss and laziness.
FINNEAS is content with the love he has found. After all of the turmoil of the rest of the album, this is a beautiful song to end the album on because it signifies that all the hurt was worth it because he found who he was meant to find despite all of it.
Overall, this album is my second favorite of 2024 and all-time favorite from FINNEAS and is about to be in heavy rotation in my car. A very strong 9/10.