“Waiting” by Trapt, Sunday, August 7, 2022

 

Trapt's breakthrough single "Headstrong" from their major label self-titled debut record had appeal to many musical genres. The song was massive, reaching number 1 on the rock and alternative charts, number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 on the mainstream top 40, or the pop radio chart. This was a unique time when a scream in a rock song didn't necessarily disqualify it from hitting pop radio. But the band was never able to repeat the success of their debut record.  

I'VE BEEN FOOLED BY ALL THE ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD. Trapt's followup record, Someone in Control was released in September 2005. The band’s debut album’s success helped their sophomore record debut at #14 on the Billboard 200 album charts. But lack of a major single and poor reviews plagued the album’s success. Two of the singles the band released chatted on rock radio. “Stand Up” even reached number three on mainstream rock. Today’s song, “Waiting,” though, only reached #20. A scathing review by Blender magazine attacked the singer Chris Taylor Brown’s (not to be confused with the R&B singer Chris Brown) vocals and lyrics about the singer’s claims to mental instability. This would certainly not be the last time the singer or the band would suffer attacks when in 2020 Brown took to Twitter with MAGA rants and eventually Trapt was banned from the platform due to Brown’s controversial stance on statutory rape. For most this was the final nail in the band’s coffin. Following Someone in Control, though, despite being asked to leave their label Warner Bros. Music due to low sales, the band still continued to get big tours and even score minor hits. Poor critical reception in 2005 seems to be due to the critics being no longer fond of the hard rock side of Nu Metal and Indie and Emo gaining their favor.

I'D MAKE IT RIGHT IF YOU WANTED IT.  I cautiously offer up a recommendation of today's song, "Waiting." The band is problematic, and I don't really want to support them. But Trapt reminds me of the angry white boys who hung out in their basements smoking cigarettes or pot cursing the women who wouldn't date them and cursing the men who wouldn't employ them. The funny thing is that Trapt's lyrics weren't the prime example of this anger. You could hear it in the Nu Metal of Korn and Limp Bizkit. But I remember it best from the post grunge, bands like Seether, Staind, Cold, Three Days Grace to name a few. Emo sounded uplifting compared to some of their dark lyrics. And the fact that many of these bands became members of the far-right is probably some graduate work waiting to be written or a fascinating book to read. Today's song "Waiting" features singer Chris Taylor Brown's urgent, not overwrought as Blender suggests, vocals begging the listener, someone he loves, "to get that feeling once again" right now if possible. The urgency in his voice makes listeners feel that he isn't quite in tact with his emotions, unstable. It's a believable persona that we hope is untrue. 

Read “Waiting” by Trapt on Genius