c/o Fueled by Ramen Records

Fall Out Boy is back with a vengeance. The band’s new album, So Much (For) Stardust, released on Mar. 24, sees the veterans of pop punk exploring a fresh, reinvigorated sound. The LP has been hailed as a return to form for its heavier, rock-driven sound in contrast to Fall Out Boy’s previous three albums, which leaned further into heavily-produced pop. However, rather than trade in nostalgia by emulating the sound of their earlier work, on So Much (For) Stardust, Fall Out Boy turns the page on a new era, blending influences from across their career and beyond.

With the band’s debut album, 2003’s Take This to Your Grave, turning 20 in May, Fall Out Boy is entering its third decade, and with it, a third chapter. In the 2000s, the band rode the emo-pop wave, rising to stardom on the back of crunchy riffs, angsty one-liners, and soaring hooks. After the mixed reception of 2008’s Folie à Deux, which experimented with power pop, R&B, and orchestral influences, the band went on a hiatus, returning to a far more pop-friendly sound with Save Rock and Roll in 2013. Mania, released in 2018, once again pushed into a new sonic territory, trying on a more heavy electropop sound, but was met with negative feedback. Though Fall Out Boy didn’t go on an official hiatus—they released a greatest hits album in 2019 and toured throughout 2021 and 2022—they once again took a five-year break before returning with a refreshed sound. 

In Fall Out Boy’s recent “hiatus,” Patrick Stump, the band’s main vocalist and rhythm guitarist, took up film scoring. This cinematic influence is evident from the very first moments of So Much (For) Stardust, as the opening track “Love From the Other Side” opens with atmospheric strings and twinkling pianos before building up with slamming guitar riffs and an intense-sounding, instantly anthemic chorus. Stump’s rich, soulful voice was always Fall Out Boy’s secret weapon, putting them a cut above their pop-punk competitors whose frontmen sang with the more nasal drawl typical of the genre. Across the album, he sounds better than ever, putting his wide range on full display with everything from soaring vocal runs to throaty growls. 

Indeed, the whole band sounds the best they have in years. The lead guitar work from Joe Trohman is electrifying, from the squealing riffs on the thunderous “Heaven, Iowa” to a rare guitar solo on the quarantine-era party anthem “What a Time to Be Alive.” Though it’s unclear whether Trohman will be performing these parts live on Fall Out Boy’s summer tour, as he announced a mental health-related hiatus from live performances in January, his presence is strongly felt throughout the album. 

Pete Wentz, though never a virtuoso bass player, makes his presence heard, most notably on the spare, bass-driven verses of “Hold Me Like a Grudge,” an ode to relationships that, as the lyrics state, “put the ‘fun’ into ‘dysfunction.’” Drummer Andy Hurley, having been replaced by synth pads on some of the band’s recent work, sounds powerfully unchained here, particularly in the syncopated rhythms and machine gun-rapid fills of “So Much (For) Stardust,” the closing track from which the album takes its name.

The album’s producer is Neal Avron, who previously produced three albums for Fall Out Boy in the 2000s, most recently Folie à Deux. His precise touch is evident across So Much (for) Stardust, as he assists the band in evolving and maturing its pop-punk foundations. Across the album, Fall Out Boy take on everything from vintage rock n’ roll groove on the ironically chipper “So Good Right Now,” to Phil Collins-y bombast on “Heaven, Iowa,” to lush horn parts reminiscent of the work of Earth, Wind & Fire on “What a Time to Be Alive.” All of these styles are well-incorporated while simultaneously maintaining an organic-feeling rock edge, putting them in sharp contrast to the more mechanical sound of their 2010s albums. More than anything, So Much (For) Stardust feels—as Stump described it in an interview with NME—like an immediate follow-up to Folie à Deux from an alternate timeline. 

While far from a concept album, So Much (For) Stardust feels unified in its overall lyrical themes. Wentz, the band’s primary lyricist, is no stranger to writing about angst and turbulent mental health, but the songs on So Much (For) Stardust reflect a richer, more mature perspective. Wentz may have once worried he wouldn’t make it to 27; now as a 43-year-old father, his worries are far more existential, but no less deeply felt. He’s more used to dealing with his troubles, but the troubles persist nonetheless. 

Wentz’s lyrics are known for being arch and purposefully opaque, more interested in a dramatic-sounding, heart-on-its-sleeve phrase than focusing on a single clear narrative or theme. It’s Wentz’s way with words that made Fall Out Boy lyrics perfect for an AIM away message or to scribble onto the back of a notebook, and So Much (For) Stardust is full of such gems: “Do you laugh about me whenever I leave?/ Or do I just need more therapy?” in the heartfelt pre-chorus of “Fake Out,” “I’m pretty sure as far as humans go/I am a hard, hard pill to swallow” as the opening line of the propulsive “The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years),” and “we could cry a little, cry a lot/ don’t stop dancing, don’t dare stop” in the frantic chorus of “Heartbreak Feels So Good,” to name a few. 

The focus on thematic mood-setting across So Much (For) Stardust can be seen further in the album’s two interludes. The first, “The Pink Seashell,” features a sample of a monologue read by actor Ethan Hawke in the 1994 film “Reality Bites.” “There’s no point to any of this,” Hawke says as an ambient instrumental swells. “It’s all just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details.” 

A few tracks later is “Baby Annihilation,” a spoken-word poem by Wentz, the first one featured on a Fall Out Boy album since Folie à Deux. In the poem, Wentz speaks to the glamour and tragedy of everyday modern life. “Charcoal crushed pixie fever angel dust stuck in a wasteland we covered in glitter and broadcast just for a little serotonin,” he reads, neatly encapsulating the album’s mood. 

Through it all, the perspective on So Much (For) Stardust is at once jaded and hopeful. This can even be understood in the double meaning of the album’s title. “So Much (For) Stardust” can be read as an expression of defeat, giving up on one’s dreams. But the title can also be read as “So Much Stardust,” a perspective that is awestruck by the beauty still out there in life. 

So Much (For) Stardust has its weaker moments. A couple of tracks, like “So Good Right Now” and “Flu Game,” while pleasant, are among the album’s less rich-sounding songs, and stick out slightly on a sonic level. But the album’s lowlights are massively outweighed by its highs, from the epic introduction of “Love From The Other Side” to the instant classic that is “The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)” to the show-stopping grandeur of “So Much (For) Stardust.” Across this record’s 44 minutes, Fall Out Boy incorporates influences old and new that build from their roots into a collection of songs that feels both massive and intimate, ultimately cohering into their best album in at least 15 years.

Oscar Kim Bauman can be reached at obauman@wesleyan.edu.