Porter Robinson – Cheerleader

In this track, Porter has successfully brought back nostalgia of old pop-punk, Travis Barker-esc tracks, but with a new, clean, and modern spin.

He adds interest to what is a familiar sounding guitar pattern in the verses by adding panning. These guitars are very refreshing in comparison to the aggressive saw-wave synth leads of the hooks. In my opinion, that is the downside of the track.

If Porter delivered a track that was just a development of the ideas presented in the verses, this would be border line 8/10, but he didn’t.

There isn’t much to be said on the quality of the mix, sound selection, nor the melodies themselves because they are up to the standard that Porter’s tracks usually are, and that standard is sky high. This track gives of strong ‘guilty pleasure’ vibes, but has a unique quality to make you feel nostalgic for something that you never experienced.

This track has very strong and powerful ideas, that get somewhat let down by the contrast of electric guitar to saw-synth, which is not executed particularly fantastically. The lyrics are straight of out a 2000s American High-School Sitcom, but that makes the song more nostalgic in a way.

 Therefore, whilst this track has its flaws and would give me a headache on the 4th or 5th listen, it is a catchy, clean blast from the past that makes me long for a new Porter Robinson album. This song is a 6/10 for me.