Here is an example of a review I did on March 6, 2012 for fun.’s album Some Nights:
Review
“We Are Young” so let’s have some fun.
By Debbie Gillum
Forum Editor
Over the summer, my best friend recommended I check out this band called fun. (Yeah, that’s their name—lowercase f with a period.) So I requested their CD, Aim and Ignite, from the library (a totally legal way to get music for free) and listened to it on my way to and from my summer job.
The first song, “Be Calm,” immediately captured my interest. It not only featured a wide variety of instruments (trumpet, clarinet, accordion, violin, etc.), but also was like nothing I’d heard before. It was such an unusual song and the singer’s voice was so incredibly strong. I was impressed.
I ended up loving the whole album and listening to all of it countless times. I can’t list my favorite tracks without just listing the entire album. Each song is different and embodies a different emotion.
I could ramble on and on about how much I like Aim and Ignite, but what I want to really ramble about is how much I like fun.’s new album, Some Nights. The same friend who first introduced me to fun. told me last week that they had just released a new album. While I was still Skyping with her, I bought Some Nights off Amazon (I borrow CDs I’m unsure about but I buy CDs that I know I’ll like). Two days later, my package came and I listened to the CD on the drive to my horseback riding lesson.
Once again, I loved the album. I was captured by the first song, “Some Nights (Intro)” because it was so strange yet genuine. I also thought it was cool to have an Intro song for the next song, which is the title track “Some Nights.”
The third track is the reason why most everyone now knows who fun. is. Yeah, they’re that band who sings that song that Glee butchered…I mean sang. “We Are Young” was also featured on a Chevrolet commercial that ran during the Super Bowl…talk about a lot of publicity for a band that used to be only known by hipsters.
Even though fun. has broken into the mainstream-er pop music scene, I think their music still embodies what a perfect pop album sounds like. You have catchy tunes like “It Gets Better” (literally it’s been stuck in my head all week), well-known numbers like “We Are Young,” and a little bit of auto-tuning and technology used in tracks like “Some Nights.” “Some Nights” reminds me a lot of one of the great American songs, “Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel. They share a similar melody and are all ideal sing-along-in-your-car songs.
Nate Reuss, fun.’s lead singer, has been compared to Freddy Mercury from Queen. For such a small guy, he sure has some powerhouse vocals. “Some Nights” does an excellent job of showcasing his full vocal range and showing what an amazing singer he is.
Even if you’ve never heard of fun. or only know “We Are Young,” I implore you to check out Some Nights or Aim and Ignite. If you wear out those two discs and want to go the extra mile, check out Dog Problems by The Format. This band features the lead singer of fun. and is fairly similar to Aim and Ignite.
fun. is coming to the LC Pavillion in Columbus on Thursday April 19 at 7P.M. Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 the day of the show.
Debbie Gillum Wakefield 