- May 30, 2021
- 3 min read

AS IT IS: idgaf | EMO REVIEW

Why hello there, welcome to the darkside of music, dress code: all black, attitude: angry and mad at the world, and today’s track up for review is… you guessed it, IDGAF by As It Is. The 2018 as cute as a button Dial Tones vocalist, transforms into the new 2021 eyeliner wearing and black paint spewing Patty Walters in As It Is’ new emo pop rock tune and video.

GENRE: emo punk rock| FFO: State Champs, Stand Atlantic, Between You & Me

The UK punk rockers have returned to the spotlight angrier and heavier than before, and with a few less members. The band are now a trio made up of Patty Walters, Ronald Ish and Alistair Testo. The band have said that their new track

“serves as a unifying, emotional, and inspired battle cry for the past year and the times we’ve all been living in during the lockdown and pandemic”

On that note, let’s get into this Moody Music review shall we?

First thing I noticed was that some of

the lyrics in particular are really really pretty in this track, such as ‘heartbeat ends, where blood runs cold’ and ‘bury me in the back of your mind, I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine’, it’s like gothic poetry.

Aurally, this track balances between two genres emo-pop for the verses and then it picks up heavier in the chorus with a pop-punk rock vibe, I know they are within the same melting pot of genres but you can hear a difference.

Visually the official music video does capture that sense of cabin fever frustration and paranoia that being isolated in lockdown induces, that’s portrayed really well by the band as they said that they wanted to capture that sense of emotional vulnerability that everyone globally has had to deal with while in lockdown.

One thing I absolutely love is emo Patty Walters with that heavy black eyeliner, it kind of channels Jared Leto’s aesthetic in 30 Seconds to Mars’ The Kill and any other popular emo pop punk tracks from that era of 2000’s emotional music. The music video is also partially shot in a Paramore wallpaper style with how Misery Business was filmed with with word ‘RIOT’ smothered all over the walls, but instead of RIOT, As It Is has the track title ‘IDGAF’.

IDGAF would be great to see live in action, especially when the chorus kicks in, there’s opportunity for a bit of moshing, crowd surfing and lyric screaming. To have Patty do some crazy emo crazy eyes onstage, just like in the music video, it would be an absolute bonus!

The band’s album Never Happy Ever After (2015) was my introduction to As It Is, and it’s been interesting seeing the band grow in regards to their music. Instead of a bubble gum pop punk style like on their 2015 album, IDGAF feels more of an extension from their 2018 album The Great Depression, with that societal hatred that’s in The Stigma (Boys Don’t Cry) and the title track The Great Depression, but their new sound with IDGAF is angrier and heavier than anything they’ve ever done before.