Midwest Emo darlings Hot Mulligan are finally back, with their saddest tunes and longest song titles yet. I’m joking, the song titles aren’t their longest. 

As usual, I’m a sucker for an album about nostalgia and feeling like you’re seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. I always think of times past and somehow feel that “it’ll never be that good again”, and “it was too good to be true”, simultaneously. In Why Would I Watch, Hot Mulligan dive into that, along with songs about generational curses (“It’s a Family Movie, She Hates Her Dad”), losing touch with friends (“Cock Party 2”), and losing your pets (“Betty”). The title itself to me is like “why would I look back” but the past is like a car crash that you keep an eye on through your mirrors until you finally round the corner and move on.

Lead single, “Shhhh! Golf Is On”, was the perfect choice to give us a taste of the new album. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since it released. And the fact that you have to really listen to find out it’s about wanting your mom to die is the most on point description of Hot Mulligan there could be. “There’s nothing special in the water here / There’s no reason you should feel the need to stay / You’ve ruined everything you touched ‘round here / Let the locusts have your home” is scathing and wouldn’t work for any lead single except for theirs. 

I really enjoyed 2020’s You’ll Be Fine; it ended up on our year-end list. Why Would I Watch is definitely a continuation of that vein of deeper songwriting and more experimental instrumentation, and it’s a more refined project sonically. I think I prefer You’ll Be Fine, but I’ve already cherry-picked songs like “Gans Media Retro Games” and “John (The Rock) Cena, Can You Smell What the Undertaker” as favorites through their discography. The latter track is about the trauma from growing up in church purity culture, and lines like “All of the pictures from when I was a kid / I am wearing the same coat / I’d say it was at least two sizes too big / But it covered from head to toe / I felt that I can’t hide enough” are a gut punch when you’ve had those same thoughts but have never admitted them aloud. Like guys, did you have to come for me that hard? I am unwell.

The second half of this album hits really hard emotionally, and “Smahccked My Head Awf” is honestly unreal. I don’t tink I’ve heard a song about family illness that hit me in the feels since The Wonder Years’ “Dismantling Summer”. Hot Mulligan has often been compared to The Wonder Years but with each of their releases they really do make a name for themselves as the forefront pop punk, math rock, Midwest emo clan of the 2010s. Why Would I Watch will be on rotation for me this spring and summer, and I’ll try not to cry while I’m driving to work.

by Nadia Alves

Nadia Alves has been a music enthusiast since she can remember. Going to shows is her main pastime. The other is being upset when she can’t go to shows. This is her first official venture into writing about music. You can follow her on Twitter.