“Isn’t it strange, how we’re strangers again?”
When it comes to lyrics that capture universal experiences and their associated emotions with uncanny precision, The Chainsmokers have always been known to hit bullseyes with their pens. On “iPad,” the second single to surface in the rollout for their fourth studio album, Alex Pall and Drew Taggart once again bury a dart in the heart of the lyrical board. Vocalizing a barefaced narrative of disintegrated romance, the follow-up to the LP’s debut single, “High,” is familiar on two counts: it elicits the pang of something lost, someone who was once known, unknown, as it simultaneously recalls The Chainsmokers’ classic 2014-2016 sound, at once euphoric and emotive. Whereas “High” appealed to the rugged alternative character that Pall and Taggart tried on for size on 2018’s Sick Boy, “iPad” is vulnerable in a different and perhaps even more accessible way, gesturing to the diversity of sound that can likely be expected on the long-awaited answer to 2019’s World War Joy.
Featured image: Rukes
