In an interview with Loverboy magazine, Bentley Robles uses a term I really liked: Catastrophize. When he’s in a relationship, Bentley Robles tends to catastrophize. As he put it in his hit single “i hate the weekend,” when his boyfriend goes out on the weekend and the possibility of him sleeping with other men looms, Robles might equate that with the end of the world.
The penchant to catastrophize is a defining characteristic of Gen-Z and Millenials. It’s that ever-present subconscious panic of dystopian apocalypse: climate change, hurricanes, facism, nuclear war. All of those anxieties linger in the back of the youth’s mind, bursting out instead in little catastrophes: break-ups, petty fights. Robles’ new pop-punk break-up anthem, “don’t listen to this song” with fellow queer pop singer Gregory Dillon indulges those little catastrophes with all the weight of something larger.
The chorus of the song is about the antagonist sitting in their car outside the singer’s house — something pretty mundane and inoffensive. But in this case, the tone describing this scene is malicious: “You’re so f***ing stupid / sitting in your Honda, in my drive way.” It’s that crude and irrational anger that sets the song up as a break up song; it communicates the particularly delicious, insatiable feeling of hating on your ex.
“Don’t listen to this song” indulges in those feelings momentarily, but it’s not quite satisfying. It’s oversaturated — like a little too much perfume, too much creamer in your coffee; you’ll lose those woodsy base notes, you don’t get quite enough caffeine. Or maybe it’s too much because it’s not enough. The song is aggressive, confident and proud, but it’s not articulate. That invigorating emotionality and expression is played down by kitschy guitar and trendy all-lowercase titles, it comes across as aloof but forced.
This song lies somewhere between Machine Gun Kelly — pre-Travis Barker — and Charlie XCX, with a big inspiration from Gayle’s “abcdefu.” The guitar’s pace is very MGK, and Robles and Dillon’s voices are auto-tuned to sound sparkly and cyber-y, in a more diluted version of Charlie XCX’s vocals.
Robles and Dillon are constructing their own image as modern pop stars. They are still pretty fresh on the scene, with their spotify’s going back to 2019 and 2018 respectively. Though neither has released a full length album, both have put out EPs and several singles. Robles is from LA, but now based in Brooklyn; he’s played at some of NYC’s iconic spots, such as The Bowery Electric, Mercury Lounge and The Delancey. Dillon is a native East Coaster from New Hampshire. He’s said he moved to Brooklyn in search of confidence as an adult, and has now been featured in numerous publications such as GAYTIMES, BILLBOARD and PAPER.
“don’t listen to this song” is pop-punk, marking a turn for Gregory Dillon from his usual “‘80s stained” sound. Though the instrumentals in “don’t listen to this song” sound computerized, there’s no synth or nostalgia; the song is very present.
With lyrics like “Hate when you hit your vape” and “get the f*** out my face” the duo bridges on satirizing the whole fad of made-for-TikTok songs with obvious lyrics, 15 second choruses and missing bridges. But when the absurdist lyrics are paired with visuals of Dillon and Robles running suburban streets dressed as teletubbies as they do in the promotional materials for this song, it’s more absurdist than mocking, in a fun, albeit unoriginal, way. To see them play live, Robles and Dillon will be at The Public Theater on October 2 and C’mon Everybody on November 15. Pre-save the song here.
