Folie à Deux is the first of Fall Out Boy's eventually many controversial records, and an underrated one at that. There are people out there who feel that this album was overhated, and I have to agree despite not being there when it was released. For a band so big and yet constantly challenging and reinventing their sound, Folie à Deux represents one of their most daring and creatively successful explorations of sound, only to meet disappoint from fans who wanted their old sound.
I didn't know about the controversy behind this record when I dug in. I was familiar with the top hit I Don't Care, but I was otherwise stranger to the record, and my first listen was very promising. I found many of the songs intriguing to listen to, and the deviations from their old sound were all full of potential. Like most albums, I let it grow on me a bit before deciding, and it turns out that I do in fact love what this record does and represents for the band.
For a band four records in on their wildly successful pop punk sound, I can imagine the pressure on wanting to expand their art creatively but also wanting to meet expectations on their sound. Folie à Deux was such a daring, and I can only assume intentional, change of sound that not only showed more of their true capabilities as artists, but also set the foundation for their music to branch out wider than ever in the following years.
They introduced a lot of elements that they never touched before throughout this record, allowing them way more degrees of expression than ever before. The significant incorporation of piano and orchestral elements, making use of more unorthodox lyrical and vocal work, taking influences from soul and R&B, letting musical inspirations like Queen, Bob Dylan and Metallica guide their sound. They cover a truly impressive amount of musical ground in thirteen songs, lending from the musical talent of many other names in the musical industry. Patrick Stump features an impressive array of vocal textures by himself, but the stacked list of guest vocalists do wonders in filling in that last bit of variety, whether it's Brendon Urie duo-ing with Patrick on 20 Dollar Nose Bleed, Lil Wayne adding some robot-like vocals to the bridge of Tiffany Blews, or the mass cameo section on What A Catch, Donnie, reprising many of Fall Out Boy's lines from their best work.
Some of Fall Out Boy's most creative endeavours reside in this tracklist, which is why I consider this their best record in both musical quality and creative direction. Moments like the repeating "I didn't" ending with "I don't", gang vocals on the bridge of Disloyal Order Of Water Buffalos, the lengthy call-and-response bridge of I Don't Care, swooning choirs on certain words of America's Suitehearts, the stripped down outro of w.a.m.s., and the spoken word ending of 20 Dollar Nose Bleed, they're what make this record so different from the rest. They're evolving into something more unique, becoming more than just a pop punk band.
If you have an open mind and just listen to this record a few times, you'll come to find so much ingenuity and passion within each nook and cranny of this record. No moment feels cheap, no song seems rushed, and every song has something special to it's name. Folie à Deux may not have been their breakout record, but it represents one of the biggest peaks of their creative energy and of their best collective efforts in a long time, maybe ever.
Rating: 10/10