Beauty School Dropout Outdoes Themselves With Stunning New Album ‘WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?’

Beauty School Dropout, an LA-based alternative rock band, return with a brand-new experimental album, blending genres and aiming for new horizons. It is clear how much of their souls they have poured into this album over the last 2 years and how much they’ve grown as people as well as sonically. They continue to push boundaries in all senses, from experimenting with different sounds to continuously showing up as their unapologetic, authentic selves. I am certain that this is the album that will finally gain them the recognition they deserve. 

‘WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?’ is out on September 5th via Verswire. This album started as a bunch of self-produced demos before collaborating with Neal Avron (Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots, Yellowcard, Linkin Park) to produce this incredible body of work. The project was created with live shows in mind and aims to reignite the fun and energy of rock music. Having debuted a few of the singles, such as ‘FEVER’ at the Ceremony Festival last year, I can say they were a hit; the fans are not prepared for what the rest of the album has in store!

The album takes us on an introspective journey through the fall out of a relationship and shows us that there is ‘beauty in pain’ as further reflected through the blood-splattered butterfly on the cover art and each of the four insane music videos that accompany the singles; ‘ON YOUR LIPS’, ‘FEVER’, ‘SEX APPEAL’ and ‘ONE OF US’, creative directed by Colie Hutzler (lead singer).

This album was well worth the wait and far exceeded the high expectations I had. The complex synth production, combined with the lyrical, emotional, and musical depth, is unmatched. I’m always blown away by their ingenious songwriting. Which other bands can sing about retainers and Ziploc bags and still make it sound romantic? 

Be sure to catch them on tour with Blink-182 and letlive,. as well as their own European headline tour next week!

PHOTO CREDIT NATASHA AUSTRICH

Photo Credit: Natasha Austrich

The album kickstarts with a solid drumbeat and a couple of claps before descending into groovy tones and an upbeat melody with catchy backing vocals. Colie Hutzler really experiments with bold vocals throughout this album, showing his full vocal potential in numerous different ways. ‘FEVER’ is a solid opening track, pulling the audience in and leaving them wanting more. Keep an ear out for the cheeky ‘The Ramones’ reference in this one. 

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT - FEVER

‘TWO OF US’ maintains a mysterious undertone with help from Bardo Novotny on guitar and Brent Burdett on bass. Devotion is one of the main themes throughout this album, which is further consolidated with this track through lyrics such as ‘I dug this grave so deep for the two of us’ while simultaneously showing the downside with more butterfly imagery; ‘you clip my wings and make me stay’ and ‘crawling under my skin, there’s beauty in the pain’. 

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT - TWO OF US

‘ON YOUR LIPS’ was the first single released to usher in this new era and includes interesting synth production that sounds like it is from a gaming arcade, combined with chopped up, ‘glitchy’ vocals, which gives this a very nostalgic feeling.

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT - ON YOUR LIPS

Leading in with a softer intro, ‘SICK PUPPY’ explores the theme of avoidant attachment styles; ‘I swear I don’t bite, but it’s better not to trust me, imma run away’. Cleverly orchestrated through a play on words of ‘lovesick puppy’ and ‘sick puppy’, which can be used to refer to someone who is morally corrupt/ mentally disturbed. This song is one of the most emotionally vulnerable songs on this project ,while having a more upbeat dark pop sound to it, ending with a wailing guitar riff.

‘XXX’ is an energetic, angsty anthem; the layered backing vocals are reminiscent of Nirvana’s music. Once again, Colie can show off his vocal range, switching between clean vocals and emotional screams, displaying his frustration at being taken advantage of, which are broken up by a series of intriguing guitar hooks.

This next track was the one that struck me the most on this album. ‘ADELINE (SAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US)’ is a more stripped-back song with gut-wrenching lyrics and vocals over acoustic guitar, laced with subtle strings in the background. This nostalgic-sounding track explores the fallout of a relationship for the better; ‘toxicity turns alkaline’, through the bittersweetness of it all; ‘I’m glad you found your happiness, save some for the rest of us, I’m glad you did, don’t rub it in’. They once again strike with their double entendre lyrics; ‘Adeline’ rhyming with ‘outta line’ on this one. This track is where the theme of denial starts to surface, which is carried through the rest of the body of work: ‘throw away the photographs, the memories we never had’. 

There’s then a smooth transition into ‘CITY NEVER SLEEPS’, which has a similar sound to ‘SICK PUPPY’ but is more vibrant. This track has frustrated screams dotted throughout, combined with glitchy vocals once again, starting off slowly with synths before a big breakdown, bringing the rest of the instruments in. ‘How do I rest in peace when this city never sleeps?’. This is the ultimate crash-out track that is sure to be popular with insomniacs as well as those who can’t seem to catch a break. 

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT - HEART AWAY

They continue to channel their inner rockstars on ‘MADONNA’ before jumping into an early 2000’s club music track ‘HEART AWAY’ which has a similar vibe to ‘every time we touch’ by Cascada. The dance theme continues into the next few songs, going from ‘dancing in the dark’ (denial) to ‘dancing their tears and fears away’ in ‘DADDY DON’T CRY’. 

BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT - SEX APPEAL

‘SEX APPEAL’ contains a strong dimensional soundscape that comes and goes in bursts while entwining with the hedonistic lyrics ‘I’m obsessed with the feel’; ‘the cheaper the thrills, the better’. 

‘LMTFA’ (leave me the fuck alone) emphasizes the complex instrumentals before building into a series of frustrated vocals and screams. This song calls out fake friends and continues to build with increasingly emotional screams, really ramping up the energy before bringing it back down for the last 2 tracks of the album. This track is sure to be a cathartic one for fans to let their frustrations out while screaming along at shows.  

‘HOW COULD I FORGET’ keeps Colie’s vocals as the focus point to convey a story of unreciprocated devotion; ‘I bled for your devotion, you held my heart so carelessly’ and bad timing; ‘timing was a tragedy’ leading into the moment of realisation ‘from butterflies to broken dreams’. Colie’s vocals are supported by backing vocals from Bardo and Brent throughout this track, maintaining vocals as the centre point of this track while keeping the instruments and beats fairly consistent throughout but with interesting production added here and there to make them stand out.

Beauty School Dropout – WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?

Before wrapping up with the title track ‘WHERE DID ALL THE BUTTERFLIES GO?’ which is a slow-paced, spaced-out song, giving off the illusion of daydreaming and making you feel like you are floating within the sonic dreamscape.  This is the perfect way to wrap up the album, leaving fans pondering if it was all just a dream.

This album far exceeds all expectations and completely blows their previous works out of the park with the complex production and topics throughout. It is truly a testament to them bringing the ‘butterflies (excitement) back to rock music and consolidating their place in the scene.  I cannot wait to see it go off at their headline show next week, their shows just got a level up!

Tickets for the tour dates below can be purchased here

Opening for Blink-182

European Headline Tour

Festivals

Supporting Letlive.

Headline Shows

Supporting letlive.

Festivals

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