Zack King‘s new album Songs I Wrote Instead of Texting You enamors with pop-punk vitality and emotional candor, chronicling the chaos that follows heartbreak with humor, honesty, and heart. Across the album’s hook-laden anthems and tender introspections, King captures the late-night mental spirals and reluctant self-discovery that come when love fades but the feelings linger. With its blend of melodic punch and lyrical vulnerability, the album feels like a series of unsent messages in their confessional, unfiltered entrancement.
Rousing opener “What’s on your Mind?” infuses an infectious pop-punk energy with lyrical angst, channeling the restless swirl of post-breakup confusion and emotional denial. “Always looking for guys unlike you, she’s always looking down on you,” King’s wordplay consumes, accelerating into a title-touting fervency and ensuing yearning to “hold me close, say my name.” The push-and-pull of recognizing toxicity but also craving affection is captured in resonating, artful form here.
Ensuing track “Let’s Call It A Night” continues the quality songwriting, delivering a delirium of late-night longing and emotional exhaustion. Over pulsing rhythms and swelling guitars, which venture from rumbling rhythms into heady distortion, King wrestles with obsession and self-awareness: “No sleep for me ‘cause I’m wasted / When is there peace when you’re always faking?” The moody rock bursts and emotive lyricism combine for a gripping look at how heartbreak can fuel insomnia, over-thinking, and a desire to renew.
While much of the album embraces a rock-forward passion, King’s dynamic stylistic range impresses on the folk balladry of “Over & Over.” “Don’t run away, not today, we will miss you over and over again,” his heartfelt vocals let out, admitting to seeing “the darkness in me” as somber acoustics complement the vulnerable sentiments. The album succeeds in both its angsty passion and heart-on-sleeve personal introspections, and the latter succeeds on the excellent “Over & Over.” The subsequent “ROM-COM” then brings us back into King’s more familiar territory, producing an utterly contagious pop-punk briskness that bleakly admits “there’s no rom-com special for us” or resulting happy ending. New Dialogue’s expressive guest vocals add wonderfully to the mix.
A playful, anthemic charm shows on the peppy “YOU GOT ME!” — declaring “you got me wrapped around your finger, and I can’t get away” despite the relationship having no future. The na-na-ing vocals, clapping percussion, and vibrant keys meld with heavier guitar tones for a fantastic synergy of rock and pop, inducing replays with its hooky allure. Album finale “We’re Alright” is another standout, beginning with a reassuring vocal sample that implores to “just go for it” in life, rather than wallowing in past experiences. “Remembering the days when we were young, no worries in my mind,” King’s vocals ensue, tracing an ascent into adulthood and cathartic “I’m alright” satiation as one conquers personal tumult. Songs I Wrote Instead of Texting You plays as a melodic, affecting success from Zack King.
