Releasing a fifth studio album is a daunting task – especially when you're as established as The Killers. People are always going to be looking for you to release the next "Mr. Brightside" or "Human" and you've got to wrangle some sort of creativity while balancing the fact that necessary evils like time, age, and experience will never again allow you to be the boy faced eyeliner donning multi-hit wonders of the early aughts.
But all this aside, for some damn reason, The Killers seem to be pretty confident about their come back – as is evident in the first single of their yet to be released album Wonderful Wonderful – "The Man." In fact, if confidence had a sound it would be this bombastic ballad that starts with slowly building synth before falling into deep funky bass lines, and comes equipped with not only a backing chorus, but ironically sang less than modest lyrics (we're looking at you – "Baby I'm gifted / See what I mean / U-S-D-A certified lean").
The heavy machismo atop melody is presented throughout the song and it's safe to assume the lyrics are written in jest. The cover art reflects this theory, depicting a kid in an oversized black jacket and a superhero mask – "The Man" seems to harken back to the early years of The Killers' career when lead singer Brandon Flowers was a lot more loose lipped with his opinions and understandably more confident in his success. The ode to rock star ideology is present in lyrics like, "Right hand of God / First in command/ My testimony / When I take the stand."
"The Man" sounds worlds away from the Springsteen-style singles of their fourth studio album, Battle Born but it's only a few specs of glitter off from the glam disco drenched chart topping favorites of Day and Age. If you don't fall in love with "The Man" at first listen, throw on a sequin jumpsuit, hit up your local disco, and try it again.
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