“INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY” deserves a golden stamp for its raw authenticity

5 out of 5 stars

Who said Jesus was for everyone? Not Awsten Knight, frontman of the band Waterparks, with their latest album making a splash in the alternative community, touching on themes such as religious trauma, sexual guilt, and hypersexuality. 

The band’s latest album, “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY,” was released April 14, marking it as their fifth studio album. This album is heart-wrenching — it is eccentric, raw, and honest, the type of music you can cry to while still dancing your little heart out. 

As always, Waterparks dances the fine line between pop tunes and loud, head-banging hits. With each song being placed in a roller coaster-like manner, Knight brings listeners on a journey of self-hatred and self-discovery. 

The album opens with “ST*RFUCKER,” and immediately we’re transported into Knight’s head, where he begins to illustrate his struggles with demons, God, anxiety, and sex, themes that follow through the rest of the album.

Before Knight can finish the song, it’s interrupted by his voice, speaking normally and stating, “I’m saying picture that, but like, right before things go dark,” leading the audience directly into the next track, “REAL SUPER DARK.” The transition between songs was jaw-dropping. 

Knight constantly criticizes fame for the anxiety it has caused him. Musically, the song itself sounds like an intense panic attack. The loud, electronic strumming of the guitar and drum beats are purposefully confusing, as Knight screams about being, “freaked out.” 

If you’re a bit sadistic, you’ll enjoy the rough nature of this song. 

The album then takes an immediate left-turn and leads into more pop-type songs, such as “FUNERAL GREY” and “BRAINWASHED.” The themes of hyper-sexuality and relationship issues continue into both, while still marking them as their own beings. 

“FUNERAL GREY” is the type of song you hold your own personal concerts to, the instrumentals and beat soft enough to guide you through your fantasy concert. While the catchy nature of the song makes the listener want to dance, the explicit nature of the lyrics outsells themselves. 

“She rolled her eyes, and then she said, ‘I know your dying wish is to be baptized in my spit,’” Knight sings. 

As for “BRAINWASHED,” this is the type of song you play driving down a long road with your windows down on a hot summer day. The beat is easy to follow and tap your fingers to, with Knight’s obsessive nature around relationships shining through in the lyrics. 

“I’m having those same thoughts, can’t stop, thinking you’ve got me brainwashed,” Knight sings. 

Knight effortlessly continues to illustrate his problems through the rest of the album; however, he manages to wrap each theme of the album up in a perfect little bow with the ending song, “A NIGHT OUT ON EARTH.” 

The song begins with Knight’s struggles with fame and God: “Desensitized, the love I get is virtual, now Jesus hates my guts, it’s getting personal (yeah).” 

The song picks up with beats anybody could dance to as Knight angrily begins to discuss how people only want him for his fame. But then it slows to a hallucinogenic state as a soft guitar begins to strum, and Knight begins to yearn for his life before fame and question his morals.  

The hardest-hitting lyrics of the song were, “Was I loved or was I right? I kissed a couple people in a week, am I gonna go to hell in my sleep? Or will God forgive me?” 

The song begins to pick up as his frustrations around his identity, anxiety, and religious trauma begin to take over. The beat finally comes to a head as Knight sings, “It’s getting hard to keep track of everything I keep locked behind my back.” 

Immediately, there’s this sense of release as Knight begins to sing the chorus of the song, and the guitar, drums, and Knight’s voice blend together effortlessly, repeating how “It’s just another night out on Earth.” 

The song, and album, end with an excerpt from an old interview the band did, stating, “This is Waterparks.” The ending of the album leaves the listener wanting more and wondering where exactly the band is going to go next with their music.

This album is the perfect blend of pop, hyper-pop, and rock, standing out from any other alternative band’s music and illustrating what a lot of religiously traumatized individuals feel — the anxiety of not being good enough for God, or anyone, and struggling to find their identities.