“Panic! At the Disco,” has been a very thought provoking band since their inception in 2004. Since then, they have gathered a cult following of young females who obsess over the band’s frontrunner, Brendon Urie. In the beginning, there was also Ryan Ross (guitar), Spencer Smith (drums), and Brent Wilson (bassist). Slowly, for various reasons, they began to quit the band one by one. In 2015, Urie became the only official member. However, Brendon has been able to keep the band’s name alive and fresh, with new songs, and the hidden storyline of certain songs, especially as he pours his whole self into the music, and almost each track in his 2018 album. Urie gives us a peek into the mind of a musician dealing with serious issues.
Panic! At the Disco was hailed as one of the emo pop greats of the 2000s. Throughout the times, their music has ranged from various genres, such as electronica, rock, dance, punk, and indie/emo pop. With Urie being the last surviving member, the band and its sound rests on his shoulders. And boy, does he deliver! The newest album, “Pray for the Wicked,” keeps with the Panic! creedo of a mix of different musical styles, in a way that somehow always works and still delivers a message.
The first song in the album, Pray for the Wicked, starts off with a bang, almost literally. The track is called, “(Fuck a) Silver Lining” and has a catchy, fast-paced, upbeat tune, and relatively simple lyrics. However, it fits into this album’s deeper meaning of Urie’s issues with the superstardom lifestyle. The album begins with this notion that nothing is ever enough, and that people should reach past the silver lining, and could be interpreted as Urie’s never ending thirst for satisfaction. The lyrics “It’s just cherries, cherries. Everything is cherries on top” refers to how in stardom, anything and everything you do adds to your fame, whether it be bad or good.
The second song in the album is “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” is wildly considered to be the prequel to a trilogy of a hidden storyline throughout Panic!’s inception. “Say Amen” is said to explain the mythology of the story. An extremely catchy song, with a music video to match, it is easily the favorite out of the whole album, also inserting the title of the album in the lyrics, “I pray for the wicked on the weekend“. The lyrics tell Brendon’s story of being bored with the people he hangs around with, and he has been waiting for someone to come and take him away, but no one came, and that everyone around him has changed. That relates to how as he grew, people changed their personalities and he wishes he could just disappear with true friends, until he finally says he “can’t change into a person I don’t wanna be.” The, “mama say another amen,” harkens back to his childhood hero, and his time as a Mormon. The story plot itself envisions a young successful man waiting for his date and then under attack by armed men, to fend them all off, only to succumb to betrayal by his date, and in the last scene we see her take a certain key- also discussed as a news report in the video-and then you hear the sound of a heartbeat, that lead many fans to believe it then goes into “This is Gospel,” where the heartbeats are heard in the beginning of the story. Fans believe “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is the last in the trilogy, at least for now. And we fans can’t wait for the next installment. To check out the story line so far, watch the playlist below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn2UCOlAVUq1mrL3kt_o8t8eTwWh5eZZ9
Following “Say Amen,” “Hey Look Ma, I made it” also features Urie mentioning his mother in his music. Either done consciously as a thank you note to his mother, or a stylistic choice, most of the music on this album has references to his mother. This song’s music video was trippy, with the use of a puppet to depict Brendon’s rise and fall in the industry. This is a very emotional track, as we literally hear and see his tumultuous journey. He discusses how he was used by his label to create sellable songs, fake and true friends, and he again references his history as a Mormon, with “/In the garden of evil/I’m gonna be the greatest/In a golden cathedral/I’ll be praying for the faithless/And if you lose, boo hoo.” The video itself shows the puppet slowly diving into drugs, partying, sex, and alcohol, visibly looking more beaten up and unwell, and the angry side of him while he was drunk and high, where he fights the paparazzi, who make it into a story. In the end, he gathers himself and rises once more, but in the end he still was tossed aside in a pile of puppets, supposedly by the label or society. This track was a real look into his life, mental health, and the music industry, and still managed to have a happy upbeat and catchy tune.
This next song turns the tune right around, being more hopeful and looking ahead. It’s titled “High Hopes” and follows how he keeps shooting for the stars, and how even in his darkest days, he kept looking forward. This track, more than the others, is a love letter to his mother, as she is mentioned helping to raise him up, and tell him to keep going and hold his head high and “Burn your biographies/Rewrite your history.” It is a fitting follow-up to the heavy, “Hey Look Ma, I made it.” It also helps that Urie’s vocals really shine through and is a great song to hype you up before a big exam or presentation or almost any huge event.
“Roaring 20s” starts to turn back into Urie’s dark days, as it literally discusses his twenties, and the drugs he took during those times. This song especially calls out the industry, with lyrics such as, “Broadway is black like a sinkhole//Strange situations, I get anxious/Maybe I’ll smile a bit, maybe the opposite/But pray that they don’t call me thankless//Oscars and Emmy’s and Grammy’s/Everyone here is a trophy.” He denounces Broadway and Award Shows, and how he has to act around fans, even though he feels uncomfortable, but still wants them to like him. The song itself is reminiscent of “Death of A Bachelor,” in the sense of Brendon’s unique talent of creating era-stylized music and really captures the spirit of the 1920s.
Moving on, the next song, “Dancing’s Not a Crime,” is a bit of a departure from the album, as it is a very dancy tune. However, some theorize it was meant for his wife, Sarah Orzechowski. That is due to the suggestive lyrics of ,”Dancing, dancing, dancing’s not a crime/Unless you do it without me,” essentially saying that if this person dances without him, they are committing a crime. Following this song is “One of the Drunks” which delves back into the world of alcohol and is more serious and on a lower note, both musically and emotionally, and mentions religion as he references the Holy Spirit. From there, “The Overpass,” “King of the Clouds,” and “Old Fashioned,” all discuss the escape he craves, induced by either sex, drugs, or drinking, in that order. They also all showcase different aspects of his vocal range, with a vast range going from high to low, then somewhat of a fast paced lyrical rap, and then a more modern, synth based beat.
Finally, the last song is a love letter to LA, a ballad for his dear town. It discusses how he felt when he was in LA and how there are “stars are on the ground” literally talking about the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He also mentions the power of LA and how you can feel the riches around you, and how everyone there is also a dreamer like himself. This song was a good end to this rollercoaster of an album, with him spilling his soul out into a single album. As a fan of Panic!, I absolutely love this album and feel honored he chose to share his story. I hope he keeps creating great music in the name of Panic! At the Disco.
Music and the World Around Us 
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