Joyce Manor has returned with a new single, “All My Friends Are So Depressed,” released on August 18, 2025, via Epitaph Records.
Torrance, California punk rock outfit Joyce Manor are back with their first single since 2023's “I Saw Water” and the 16-minute 2022 album: 40 oz to Fresno. Accompanied by a chaotic and gritty 16mm music video, “All My Friends Are So Depressed,” produced by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion fame, sees the band in a poppier form, complete with a hastened tempo and a hypnotic, extremely catchy chorus backed by light guitars and a complementary bass line that feels like the icing on the cake. The song feels like Blue Album-era Weezer, but modernized and with a punkier vibe.
Lyrically, lead singer Barry Johnson delves into feelings of boredom, stagnation, and a general discontentment with life as he belts out lines like “When I look into your eyes / I feel paint on houses dry” and “Dishwasher just overflowed / Keylime pie and Frampton live / Wish that I would f***ing die.” As the song progresses, there’s a slight vibe switch as it enters a bridge section that sounds like the backdrop of a lone cowboy traversing a desertscape in an old western movie with subtle guitar licks that almost sound like a horn section on first listen.
Overall, if you’re a fan of that early 2000s alt-pop and pop-punk sound, the song is extremely enjoyable sonically, fully capable of hooking listeners after just one spin. However, it’s debatable if the poppy sound and uptempo rhythm are super reflective of the lyrical themes surrounding depression and disillusionment with life. Perhaps something more raw and unpolished, something closer to a sonic representation of the aesthetics portrayed in the music video, would have done better in reflecting the song's themes in a way that goes beyond the lyrical content. The cleanliness and sheen of both the song’s mixing and production don’t necessarily reflect the disorder and messiness of depression.
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