Kaiser Chiefs: “Jealousy” Single Review

With its lack of effort and passion shown by the absence of a bridge and blank-slate self-insert lyrics, “Jealousy” gives a whole lot of no excitement for Kaiser Chiefs’ upcoming release.

Kaiser Chiefs have already morphed their band into a tug-of-war effect trying to please every critic at once, and “Jealousy” is no exception to the trend.

It is a wonder how bands that were once rooted in indie rock abandon their foundations to chase a more mainstream sound and audience. But other bands like Imagine Dragons at least still drop at least one great hit from every album. Kaiser Chiefs seems to be so obsessed with their near-EDM vibe that every song that they write lately feels so mediocre and so dull of passion.

The melody is good upon the first listen, and lead singer Ricky Wilson’s vocals are stable as always. The song is catchy, the lyrics are endearing, and it makes you want to sing along and bob your head with the repetition of the chorus.

But even though the song was written to sound decent, it has that 2000s home-exercise-video vibe to it in which you just know that if you can only listen to it so many times before you feel like burning your fist through every radio that decides to run it. Even worse for its case, the band apparently wasn’t attached to the song enough to write a bridge for it – or any other form of dynamic change, for that matter.

Once you get past the first verse, the rest don’t hold anything new to add; “Jealousy” is simply a generic self-insert love song that holds every complicated-love-story stereotype, as if it were a silent, blank-slate protagonist of a Japanese video game. Maybe it works for other mediums, but all-around, this single reeks of a lack of effort and care that puzzles me as to why it was chosen as the lead single for an upcoming album. If “Jealousy” has anything to say about what’s in store, all of us will have our ears bleeding once it starts hitting the retail radios.

Rating: 2/5