Album Review: 100 Gecs Are Ready to Rock on ‘10,000 Gecs’
The hyperpop duo takes their ridiculously catchy work to new heights with rock, nu-metal, and ska influences — all while never sacrificing the joyful heart of their ever-changing sound.
Written by Audrey Vieira
Photo courtesy of Chris Maggio
Describing 100 Gecs’ highly anticipated sophomore album, 10,000 Gecs, as purely hyperpop doesn’t feel entirely accurate now that guitars, unpitched vocals, and full horn section enter the mix. However, calling it pop punk, nu metal, or ska doesn’t do it justice either. Even fans who saw 100 Gecs perform demo versions of tracks — such as “757” and “Billy Knows Jamie” — on the first 10,000 Gecs tour in fall 2021 should be pleasantly surprised by how Laura Les and Dylan Brady evolve their confoundingly catchy pop into something 10 times more explosive. Despite initially promising an early 2022 release, 10,000 Gecs doesn’t sound like a delayed sequel to their 2019 debut 1000 Gecs. It’s the musical equivalent to “Avatar: The Way of Water”; a carefully crafted follow-up that takes the original’s charm to impressive new territory.
Speaking of cinema, album opener “Dumbest Girl Alive” begins with the iconic, overwhelming THX deep note — a fitting choice considering how Les and Brady combine the familiar and abrasive. 18 seconds into this cinematic wall of sound, three gunshots cut off the crescendo and swap in a gritty dad-rock guitar riff which Les rings in with a joyful “Woo!” Her voice is no longer pitch shifted in nightcore-esque fashion as it was on 1000 Gecs as she declares herself the titular “dumbest girl alive.”
Electronic second track, “757,” most sonically represents 1000 Gecs, featuring pitched-up bars from Brady and flawlessly performed verses from both him and Les. Les rhymes “I smell the trees in Colorado” with “interior gas station McDonalds” making it ridiculously fun to sing along to. With this clever double entendre and futuristic production, which includes laser blasts in the outro, “757” expands on the hyperpop sound that 100 Gecs rose to fame for.
Arena-ready anthem “Hollywood Baby” shifts gears to the rock influences that radiate throughout 10,000 Gecs — much like the opening riff of “Dumbest Girl Alive” and the pop-punk chorus of lead single “mememe.” The California-themed track is one of the more accessible 100 Gecs songs compared to earlier material such as 2019’s “money machine,” but Les and Brady never sacrifice the abrasive production at the heart of their work. 100 Gecs aren’t selling out — they’re still selling the same loud pop melodies that they create so well.
Though 10,000 Gecs sadly does not contain the dog barks found on the duo’s debut album, they compensate with plenty of ribbits on “Frog on the Floor,” an upbeat song true to its title. Brady introduces its titular character by singing, “Frog on the floor / Where’d he come from? / Nobody knows / Where he’ll go” as ribbits punctuate his performance. Both he and Les are clearly amused by the concept of a frog on the floor; Les audibly laughs at one point as she recounts the frog “telling croaks at the party.”
The duo share a knack for taking amusing concepts and running with them, from musing about “eating burritos with Danny DeVito” in surf-rock single “Doritos and Fritos” to imagining a menacing character on nu-metal influenced “Billy Knows Jamie.” The latter is by far the most overwhelming 10,000 Gecs track thanks to an excessive breakdown in its last minute. Les and Brady balance out this brutality with humor by shouting “Badabing, badaboom!” before the screams commence once more. Headphone users may be caught off guard by the track’s overwhelming nature, but “Billy Knows Jamie” is as joyfully absurd as it is abrasive. Instrumental “One Million Dollars” feels like a relaxing palate cleanser in comparison, consisting mostly of a text-to-speech voice reciting the song’s title over a powerful guitar solo.
Les and Brady work so well together that they could write a song about having dental work done and still have a potential hit on their hands — and they do just that with the album’s penultimate track “I Got My Tooth Removed.” One could easily mistake the first 30 seconds for a breakup song as Brady wistfully croons, “You were tough / Unforgiving / Made me cry all the time.” That quickly changes when trumpets and other brass instruments ring in the chorus as Brady cheers, “I got my tooth removed / and I don’t wanna talk about it ever again.” Les is more willing to discuss the experience on her verse, which pairs ska influences and even a cowbell with lines like “I might get the pliers and just rip it out myself.” The melancholy farewell that 100 Gecs bid their lost teeth juxtaposes the energetic ska chorus, making for a moment that is both funny and vulnerable.
“I Got My Tooth Removed” leads into hyperpop-punk lead single “mememe,” which closes out 10,000 Gecs the same way it introduced Les and Brady’s new sound when released in 2021 — by marrying the electronic production of their early work to the guitar-driven pop punk of their present. Even 18 months after its initial release, “mememe” is delightfully defiant thanks to Brady’s autotuned declaration: “You’ll never really know… anything about me.” The track is infectiously catchy due to its repetitive title. Its fusion of hyperpop production and pop-punk angst makes it all the more impactful in concluding 10,000 Gecs, leaving listeners knowing at least one thing about Les and Brady — they know how to craft earworms.
Whether one categorizes 10,000 Gecs as hyperpop, alternative, or something entirely different, the wild range of influences throughout the album paired with the joy and humor at the heart of each track makes it one of the most delightfully chaotic releases in recent memory. 100 Gecs showcase an impressive amount of range with this album, and it will be exciting to see how Les and Brady expand their all-encompassing sound from here.
Image courtesy of Atlantic Records