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The original column was published on February 20th, 2019 and can be found below.

New York, release me from my strata

I'm back and so is Say Anything. This time, it's all about 2019's Oliver Appropriate, the final record in the era of Say Anything's catalog kicked off by ...Is A Real Boy. I really could write a whole column on every one of their records, but for now, I'll be fast forwarding to Oliver, which serves as a spiritual sequel to the themes I talked about last time. Just a quick content warning up at the top, this album deals with a lot of sex, sexual identity discussion, and violence against partners.

Quick recap: ...Is A Real Boy was all about that entitled and obnoxious mentality that almost always accompanies a suburban punk dude, explored through singer and songwriter Max Bemis' first person narration. Rage at everyone who won't give you exactly what you want. Screaming over everyone else because you don't think anyone's listening. Stroking your ego just to cover up how little you actually like yourself. Lashing out. Constantly. Really all the time. At everybody. Like this guy:

Definitely not me. I don't know why that's there. Weird.

Oliver skips ahead 15 years later to see what that teenage jackass is up to now. It's a thematic record, so I really recommend listening to it as a whole, even if the plot isn't the clearest narrative on the first listen. The story opens with the titular Oliver, narrated by Max, an older version of our Boy protagonist. His band's broken up, which he assumes is a devastating loss to the public, and he's living his life through an alcohol and pill induced haze. He's conformed to the standard hetero liberal "ally" lifestyle, despite holding deep resentments for everyone around him.

They fade into the liberal bourgeoisie,

Their hatred now inflamed to stoke your daughter's screams

And ramble about Trump over Stellas

And headline Coachella

He takes that resentment as some sign of his superiority. He's miserable because he's better than everyone and always has been. He only pretends to be one of them to fill some hole in his self worth. His flaws are what define him, but no one's allowed to see them; Oliver himself barely acknowledges them.

And everything they told me was wrong is still in my heart to turn me on

My ego is built on all my pain. I'm your migraine.

Deep down his struggle with his sexual identity gets covered up in a way that may seem familiar to a lot of people who came of age in the "newly woke" era. Oliver "pretends" to be queer as a joke to hide his insecurities. He kisses men as a goof to show off how "comfortable" he is with his heterosexuality, but never pursues these relationships past the mockery phase. He's satirically macho to the point that he falls into the same tropes that outward misogynists do. And that struggle with his identity manifests itself, not only in his sexual identity, but in a deep hatred of women, no matter what he pretends to feel.

I somehow became a feminist, when ten years ago I was feeding drinks 

To women I'd laugh at when they'd think amongst my friends

It's such a lie

After we really get to know Oliver, his whole world changes. His facade slips and he actually lets himself go home with a guy, maybe as a joke, maybe not, but he crosses a line he never did before and starts to really fall for someone after the high of getting his band back together lets him actually show some honesty, played by the drummer and co-writer of the re