REVIEW: Yellowcard - Better Days

are they tho...

31:44 // October 10th, 2025 // Better Noise Music

The world didn’t need another Yellowcard album. I doubt that is a particularly inflammatory statement: after all, I would consider myself to be a massive fan of the band (to the point where I absolutely cried my eyes out at their “last” show in my country nine years ago). However, Yellowcard’s story was about as perfect as a pop punk outfit’s story was ever going to be: after only getting better with time, they ended things on their own terms. Even if Lift a Sail and Yellowcard’s turns to slower-paced alt-rockisms didn’t sit as well with everyone as the, uh, adult pop punk of the likes of Southern Air, Ryan Key and co. remained admirably consistent and competent. Almost a decade after that self-titled record put forth an emotional goodbye, the story now has another full length chapter known as Better Days.

Better Days is… fine. It’s fun, it’s perfectly adequate, and it’s nice hearing those now-nostalgic vocals over some peppy violin-laden pop punk again (even if I was hoping for more ambient and post rock experiments, oh well). For the most part, this album feels like Yellowcard blending their tried-and-true pop punk sound with some modern flourishes. In order to achieve this updated feel, the band brought in the very hip and cool Travis Barker to handle both drums and production. On the one hand, the king of plastic’s touches can be felt all throughout: it’s in the insufferable “woah-oahs” on “Take What You Want” and “Bedroom Posters”, and in “City of Angels” failure to capitalise on a gorgeous first half. On the other hand, it’s clear that the band’s sheer talent still manages to shine through: “Skin Scraped” features a classic Yellowcard-hook, while “honestly i” presents the most fired up the band have sounded in well over a decade.

However, even with some typically excellent moments peppered throughout, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Better Days just doesn’t have all that much to it. There are several emotionally resonant lyrical themes to be found here, and while Key still knows how to write simplistically striking reflections on life and death, the presentation frequently undermines the impact. “Barely Alive” hints at something grand, but ultimately falls flat as it turns out to be a mere larger-than-life three minutes of unseasoned alternative rock. Similarly, “Big Blue Eyes” is a very cute acoustic closer, but it does not feel like the previous 25 minutes of music have done enough to warrant the cliche of a, sigh, cute acoustic closer. Add in the painfully Simple Plan-coded “You Broke Me Too” with a pointless Avril Lavigne feature, and it’s hard to see why Yellowcard decided to release Better Days.

Again, it’s a perfectly fine album and, if nothing else, it’s just nice to have another Yellowcard album. However, the band essentially had total freedom with this album. Ocean Avenue anniversary tours can sustain them for forever: they could have made Better Days into something interesting and exciting. Or, at the very least, they could have created something far less underwhelming than half an hour of undercooked if serviceable pop punk. Then again, if this is what Yellowcard wanted to do, good for them. Perhaps the world needed a new album, and I didn’t… perhaps growing up has just begun?

6.0/10