Pop rock trio Waterparks released a new song, “Guilt (Interlude),” on Sunday, following the cancelation of its parent album, Intellectual Property 2: Lost in the Property.
Despite already releasing three other singles for this new album, the band made the announcement Friday via a YouTube video, making “Guilt” the final remnant of what would have been their first full-length release as an independent band since leaving Fueled by Ramen in 2023.
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In the video, a hooded figure buries frontman Awsten Knight’s body, with only his bright red haircut remaining visible. This imagery symbolizes the end of the album cycle for 2023’s Intellectual Property, whose album cover was an identical shade of red. Knight has previously established a pattern of dying his hair a new color for each album cycle.
Knight explained his reasoning for canceling the album’s release in the video’s description, citing his mental health being affected by religious trauma as one of the reasons, and claiming the project seemed “haunted.”
”The idea of having to follow through with a full rollout, multiple tours for it, and keep living in that place sounds daunting and I’d rather take a beat and reapproach the next Waterparks album with love rather than fear and bad energy,” Knight said.
This isn’t the first time the band has fully scrapped an album. The band’s third album was originally set to be called Friendly Reminder but was scrapped and replaced with Fandom in 2019 after Knight opted to start over from scratch.
The main difference this time is that there is tangible material available to hear that actively suggests where the album intended to go thematically and sonically, as opposed to Friendly Reminder, whose original files were deleted by Knight before they could be released to the public.
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“Guilt” is primarily a spoken word interlude written by Knight. The lyrics serve as a message, almost reading like a speech, about how some of the lessons religious institutions teach from an early age can negatively impact young people’s lives.
The track ends with a call to action, imploring the listener to find their own power: “Everybody is a god once you make it out of the property.” This final line is striking, as not only does it convey the motivational message well, but it also implies that the “property” motif heavily discussed throughout the previous album may refer to places of worship.
The song is also backed by a primarily programmed instrumental that retains a hip-hop-influenced beat that eventually morphs into something resembling a retro video game soundtrack that overtakes the song until its end.
Lead single “Soulsucker” starts out as a sparse track about Knight’s struggle to overcome his past with religion, until it explodes into a reprise of the previous album opener “Starfucker,” with boosted bass and wailing vocals from a desperate-sounding Knight.
“FAI2” is a reworked version of “Fuck About It” from the previous record characterized by an increased electronic presence and Knight’s modulated vocals, signifying hyperpop influences.
Additionally, drummer Otto Wood’s percussion is much more prominent here, and guest singer Zeph provides an additional perspective on the theme of miscommunication, suggesting it is involuntary for this particular couple. All of these elements show a stark contrast to the original song’s conventional approach which was more in line with the band’s pop punk roots.
”Sneaking Out of Heaven” sees Knight using more heavenly imagery to express his devotion to an angelic partner. Musically, this is probably more tame compared to the other tracks, but it still manages to blend electronic sounds with Geoff Wigington’s guitar quite well.
Ultimately, these songs, particularly “Guilt,” make it clear that Intellectual Property 2 intended to further explore the theme of religion, honing in on a topic that its predecessor only briefly touched on. While these prove to be among Waterparks’s darker songs, making it perfectly understandable why Knight wanted to scrap them, they also hint at a project that was more lyrically cohesive and sonically adventurous.
