Fall Out Boy is known mostly for their hit songs like “Thnks fr th Mmrs” and “Centuries,” emitting sounds of middle school dances and the anthems of adulthood. However, their new album goes in a very different direction.

Most realized that the album was going to have a much different sound from their other ones when the band released the single “Young and Menace.” The track used a lot of electronic beats and pitch shifting which has not been used before by the band.

The album, although more “pop” than usual, is still written with deep and heavy themes. Such as “The Last of the Real Ones” and “HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T.” These are two powerful songs that touch upon obsession when it comes to love and putting people up on a pedestal.

However, one of the best songs of the album in my opinion, is “Stay Frost Royal Milk Tea.” The song itself is fast paced, very much a pump up song or something to listen to before a big race. It is riddled with pop culture references like “I’m about to go Tony Harding on the whole worlds knee.” Not only that, but it puts out some big themes like “The only thing that’s ever stopping me is me” and “all my childhood heroes have either fallen off or died.” This song is about realizing that your heroes are either dead or have fallen down off that pedestal you have put them up on, and that sometimes the only thing in your way is yourself.

A lot of people think that Fall Out Boy is just changing their sound to match with the other bands. Perhaps it’s just that Fall Out Boy knows their demographic perfectly. They understand that a lot of their fans grew up listening to them, who are now adults themselves. Now, they’re creating songs that match the time they are living in, and how hard it is to be an adult and watching everything you’ve grown up with fall away.

When talking about the album, Pete Wentz said to Andy Greene of Rolling Stone Magazine, “It feels like every once in awhile, you’ve gotta do a hard restart that clears the cache and erases the hard drive. I think that’s what [Mania] was – a big palette cleanse.”

That’s exactly the kind of vibe this album gives off. “M A N I A” isn’t the first restart for Fall Out Boy. With their comeback album “Save Rock and Roll,” they stayed true to their punk side but mixed in guest singers in their songs. The following record, “American Beauty/American Psycho,” created more anthem like songs and even a remix version of the whole album. This isn’t something surprising, as it seems like Fall Out Boy is just trying to one up themselves with every new album. They’ve given life to a whole new string of songs that all have a special meaning to give. And they killed it.