| Honeymoon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14) | |||
| Recorded | Early 2019 | |||
| Studio | Electrical Audio (Chicago) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 25:00 | |||
| Label | Mom + Pop | |||
| Producer | Joe Reinhart | |||
| Beach Bunny chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Honeymoon | ||||
Honeymoon is the debut studio album by Americanrock bandBeach Bunny, released on February 14, 2020, throughMom + Pop Music. The album was primarily written in 2018, when frontwoman Lili Trifilio was "going through a lot of life changes" including a breakup; it was subsequently recorded in the first half of 2019 atElectrical Audio. Musically,Honeymoon is apower pop,indie pop, andpop-punk album which explores a wide range of topics related to romance; Trifilio explained how the record aimed to tackle every emotion a person may experience at the end of a relationship'shoneymoon period. Its lyrics were written by Trifilio, its music was composed by the entire band, and it was produced by Joe Reinhart.
Honeymoon was supported by four singles: "Dream Boy", "Ms. California", "Cloud 9", and "Promises". Music critics praisedHoneymoon's production, sound, melodies, and lyrics; it appeared on several publications' year-end lists. The album reached number 2 onBillboard'sHeatseekers Album chart and number 21 on the USTop Alternative Albums chart. Beach Bunny planned to embark on an international tour in support ofHoneymoon, but it was cut short due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In 2015, Lili Trifilio started Beach Bunny as a solo project during a college break.[1][2] She released several EPs on her own, includingAnimalism in 2015,Pool Party in 2016, andCrybaby in 2017.[3] Later in 2017, Trifilio turned the project into a band — then consisting of Trifilio, guitarist Matt Henkels, and drummer Jon Alvarado — in order to compete in abattle of the bands.[4] Bassist Aidan Cada also joined in the band in 2017,[a] and together the group recorded the 2018 EPProm Queen.[3] In September 2019, Beach Bunny signed withMom + Pop Music, after its founder Michael Goldstone had watched one of their shows in December 2018 and remained connected with the band's management.[6] That same year, Cada left the band and was replaced by Anthony Vaccaro.[3]
According to Trifilio, most ofHoneymoon was written in 2018 while she was "going through a lot of life changes" including a breakup.[7] The band decided to release the tracks as a studio album instead of as an EP due the quantity of tracks she had written, in addition to it "feeling right [...] at the growth rate things were headed".[8] The record was subsequently recorded atElectrical Audio in the first half of 2019;[4] Vaccaro commented on how the band had originally booked Studio B, however the band was moved to the more-expensive Studio A due to the bandShellac occupying the studio.[9]
Honeymoon has been described as apower pop,[10][11][12][13]indie pop,[14][15] andpop-punk,[16] with some of its songs having elements ofpop rock;[17] Jon Dolan ofRolling Stone referred to the record as being "emogarage rock".[18]Honeymoon's sound has widely been compared to that ofBest Coast.[b] Abby Jones ofPitchfork additionally compared its sound to that ofCharly Bliss,[12] while Roisin O'Connor likened it toLetters to Cleo andParamore.[8] According to Trifilio, the album's primary theme is romance, and it discusses themes of "dealing with love, loss, and all emotions in between".[8] Trifilio also explained how the record's goal was to cover every theme which a person may experience at the end of a relationship'shoneymoon period.[19] However, despite its lyrical rawness, Andy Von Pip ofUnder the Radar wrote that the album attempted to explore these feelings instead of "wallow[ing] in a state of romanticized misery", thus setting it apart from other albums labeled assad girl music.[19]
Honeymoon opens with "Promises", a pop punk track[10] with a "polished-yet-indie" sound.[11] The song was originally written in 2017 following a breakup and was intended to appear onCrybaby, but it was continuously reworked over the next years. Trifilio described it as a "true heartbreak anthem", and declared it the "most honest and vulnerable song" onHoneymoon.[20] "Cuffing Season" again has a pop punk sound,[10][14] in addition to agrunge pop guitar riff Samantha Small ofConsequence compared tothe 1975.[21] Despite being named aftercuffing season, the time of year in which people actively pursue romantic partners, the song is instead about romantic uncertainty and the wish to get away from "unsettling emotions".[20][22] Dolan called "April" a "cuddle-core ballad",[10] while Small instead categorized it assurf rock.[21] It began as aChristmas song, but Trifilio repurposed its melody to instead discusswishful thinking and processing the memories of a previous relationship. "April" unintentionally continued a trend of the band naming songs after months.[20]
"Rearview" is played almost entirely solo; Trifilio accompanies herself with a guitar, before the rest of the band joins in the last 30 seconds of the song.[11][14][16] The track is about insecurity and one's relationship with themself;[20] Small considered it an emotional crescendo on the album, due to the lyrics no longer being stuck in past memories.[21] Mia Hughes ofThe Line of Best Fit found that the grungy sound of "Ms. California" matched the track's "bright and gluey" melody;[23]Rolling Stone's Jonathan Bernstein likened the song's chord progression to that of "Stacy's Mom".[7] Lyrically, the song is about the jealousy of not having one's affection reciprocated.[20] The pop punk-influenced "Colorblind" has a "push-pull explosiveness" which Dolan stylistically compared to Paramore.[10][14] Trifilio explained that the track explored an on-and-off relationship where one person continuously apologizes to the other for hurting them, but never changes their behavior.[20]
Both O'Connor and Pete Wild ofThe Skinny felt that "Racetrack" was evocative ofAgnes Obel, with the latter emphasizing the song's "haunting" mood and its piano-led instrumentation.[8][24] Phil Mongredien ofThe Observer additionally compared its sound toBig Thief,[15] while Dolan instead likened it toJoanna Newsom's piano poetry.[10] Like "Rearview", "Racetrack" is also about insecurities; however, its focus is instead on one's relationships with others as opposed to with themselves.[20] Instrumentally, "Dream Boy" contains "breezily beatific" guitar lines over a simple beat.[25][26] The song, which Trifilio explained was about "giving love a second chance",[20] was inspired byromantic comedies and her fond memories of summer in Chicago.[25] The album ends with "Cloud 9", a surf-pop song[27] featuring prominent percussion and a "danceable" bassline over faint guitars.[21][28] The song was conceived after Trifilio wished to endHoneymoon with a "no strings attached" love song, and she dedicated the track to her deceased pet snail.[20]
On October 31, 2019, Beach Bunny announced thatHoneymoon would be released on February 14, 2020.[25][29] To support the album, Beach Bunny began a North America tour in November 2019,[25][29] which was to evolve into the international Honeymoon Tour in 2020;[30][31] however, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, much of the tour, including appearances atCoachella andRiot Fest, was cancelled.[32]
Four singles were released prior to the release ofHoneymoon. Its first single, "Dream Boy", was released the same day that the album was announced.[29] It was accompanied by a music video directed by Matt Gehl of Everybody's Baby, which Ben Kaye ofConsequence described as being "John Hughes-meets-Eighth Grade".[25] The song was also released to USalternative radio on February 11, 2020.[33] "Ms. California" was the second single from the album, being released on December 6, 2019.[30] An accompanying music video, also directed by Gehl, features the band members each handling a minor problem, such as a parking ticket or an overfilled trash can.[34][35]
The third single fromHoneymoon was "Cloud 9", released on January 10, 2020.[31] An animated music video by Margaret Bialis, described by Carolyn Droke as a "whimsical visual depiction" of a new love, accompanied the single.[36] The song was later released to US alternative radio on April 6, 2021,[37] and a version of the song featuringTegan and Sara was released ten days later.[27] The fourth and final single of the album, "Promises", was released on February 7, 2020.[38] Its music video, again directed by Everybody's Baby, sees Trifilio continuously awaken in different locations around a city.[39]
Honeymoon debuted and peaked atNo. 2 onBillboard'sHeatseekers Album chart[40] and at No. 25 on the USTop Album Sales chart on February 29, 2020.[41] The album also charted that same week on theTop Alternative Albums chart (No. 21),[42] theIndependent Albums chart (No. 27),[43] and theTop Rock Albums chart (No. 38).[44]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.4/10[45] |
| Metacritic | 78/100[46] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [14] |
| Chicago Tribune | [11] |
| Consequence | B+[21] |
| DIY | [17] |
| The Observer | [15] |
| Paste | 8.7/10[16] |
| Pitchfork | 7.0/10[12] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| The Skinny | [24] |
| Under the Radar | [19] |
According to the review aggregatorMetacritic,Honeymoon received "generally favorable reviews" based on aweighted average score of 78 out of 100 from nine critic scores.[46]Under the Radar's Andy Von Pip praised how the album saw Beach Bunny "take their sound to a whole new level" while maintaining their charm.[19] Kevin Williams of theChicago Tribune considered the record to be more polished than the band's previous releases, in particular taking notice of the improved production on the tracks without losing the prominence of Trifilio's voice.[11] Similarly,AllMusic's Timothy Monger pointed out how the album's "bolder" production highlighted Trifilio's emotional intensity and "strong melodic sense".[14] The album's emotional intensity was also mentioned by Matt Williams ofThe A.V. Club, who commented that Trifilio sounded as though she was "bubbling over" with a plethora of feelings on every track,[13] while its melodies garnered attention fromPitchfork's Abby Jones for being "rich" and "surfy".[12]
Steven Edelstone ofPaste praised thecatchiness ofHoneymoon, lauding in particular the simplicity of its compositions and its choruses. He additionally commented that the album was the "best pop-punk album to come around in quite some time".[16] Likewise,The Skinny's Pete Wild wrote that the best songs on the albums were the ones where Beach Bunny embraced a pop punk sound, and suggested that the album had the chance to influence "the next generation of next big things".[24]DIY's Chris Hamilton-Peach praised the variety of sounds onHoneymoon, writing that the band had achieved a perfect balance of "sporadic laid-back moments gelled with raucous vitality".[17] However, despite praising the band's unique sound distinct from artists likeLiz Phair andSnail Mail, Small criticized how the songs onHoneymoon felt formulaic, rarely deviating from their "tried-and-true formula of a slow-building verse to a shouted chorus".[21]
The lyrics ofHoneymoon widely received praise from reviewers. Dolan lauded the lyricism for being "both archetypal and original", writing how the album made "what could be hand-me-down pop angst feel heartbreakingly new";[10] Monger similarly concluded that the songs managed to stray from "emo clichés".[14] Both Kevin Williams and Edelston highlighted the universality of the lyrics — the former recognized howHoneymoon's down-to-earth songs had the ability to "cross genders", while the latter suggested that the universality of the album's themes lent Beach Bunny authenticity.[11][16] Various reviewers pointed out the contrast between the album's upbeat sound and more-despondent lyrics. Hamilton-Peach observed that the band consistently "surg[ed] forward with live-wire verve while glancing back lyrically".[17] Mongredien noted how the album's "lyrical anxieties" were counteracted by "carefree hooks",[15] while Von Pip wrote that the record's melodies and lyrics were "at odds" with each other.[19] Jones considered the lyricism ofHoneymoon to be a "level up" fromProm Queen and enjoyed the more confident lyrics on the record, however she criticized some of it for being "too slight" and "superficial".[12]
| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Consequence of Sound | Consequence of Sound's Top 50 Albums of 2020[47] | 50 |
| Consequence of Sound's Top 25 Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year[48] | 21 | |
| The New York Times | The New York Times' Best Albums of 2020 (Jon Caramanica)[49] | 13 |
| Rolling Stone | Rolling Stone's Best Albums of 2020[18] | 21 |
All lyrics are written by Lili Trifilio; all music is composed by Beach Bunny.[50]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Promises" | 3:51 |
| 2. | "Cuffing Season" | 2:58 |
| 3. | "April" | 3:18 |
| 4. | "Rearview" | 2:48 |
| 5. | "Ms. California" | 2:52 |
| 6. | "Colorblind" | 2:25 |
| 7. | "Racetrack" | 2:00 |
| 8. | "Dream Boy" | 2:21 |
| 9. | "Cloud 9" | 2:27 |
| Total length: | 25:00 | |
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[50]
Beach Bunny
Additional personnel
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USTop Album Sales (Billboard)[41] | 25 |
| USTop Alternative Albums (Billboard)[42] | 21 |
| USHeatseekers Albums (Billboard)[40] | 2 |
| USIndependent Albums (Billboard)[43] | 27 |
| USTop Rock Albums (Billboard)[44] | 38 |
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