Malcolm Todd’s self-titled debut album “Malcolm Todd,” released April 4, features a look into painful heartbreak, dramatic longing and Todd’s sarcastic frankness.
Todd knows satire. In the music video for his popular single “4Me 4Me,” Todd professes his love to the girl of his dreams: Queen Elizabeth II. Todd swings a cardboard cutout of the monarch across ice-skating rinks and rides with her on a carousel as he sings, “Baby, I’ll give you my loving.”
The singer brings his flippant humor to the “Malcolm Todd” album — showcased in its first song, “Harry Styles.”
“Harry Styles” channels Sabrina Carpenter’s “15 Minutes” from her Short n’ Sweet deluxe album, as both singers jokingly sing about how to handle a dispiriting music industry. The two are making the most of their sudden bursts of fame, with Todd’s “Chest Pain (I Love)” attaining TikTok virality and reaching over 68 million listens on Spotify. “Harry Styles” opens with the lyrics “Dance monkey, dance, you’re our favorite fool” as a reference to both the bullet dancing trope often seen in Western films and the 2019 hit single “Dance Monkey” from Tones and I.
Todd sees his work as performative and dehumanizing as he plays the fool, and if he doesn’t “dance” for the public and pretend to be someone he’s not — in this case, Harry Styles — he’ll be put “on the shelf.”
Todd’s fear is all too real for many artists and musicians who have also skyrocketed to stardom. In the fast-paced 21st century, where listeners have constant access to new music and talent, artists like Todd and Carpenter feel a pressure to make the most of their fame and retain their large audiences while they can.
Not only does Todd fear for his future career as an artist, he worries about his current success and how he “wasn’t picked for Flog Gnaw,” a large music festival created by Tyler, the Creator featuring popular music artists. Todd jokingly deadpans that he should’ve been invited because “people love [him] in LA.” In the face of an impending career “on the shelf” though, Todd shrugs and sings in his usual emo-inspired whiny whisper, “But I don’t gotta be mad ‘cause next year I’ll play at a better time of day.”
In “Doll,” the fifth song of the album, Todd continues to express how he’s being broken down and used like a “little game.” Despite this, he’s okay with it, allowing whoever is hurting him to continue. Whether this is a continued allusion to a vicious music industry is left to the listener.
The song is jarringly simple at times, with the prominent electric guitar of Todd’s other songs being replaced with a simple bass guitar, muted guitar, rhythmic drum beat, repetitive synth keys and strings. The song ends with a tender voicemail greeting from “Wes” and an unnamed little boy. The disconnect between lyrics, instrumentation and ending once again emphasizes Todd’s laid-back approach to music as he dismisses both his potential future failure as a singer and the abuse he faces in “Doll.”
Violence and pain become a theme throughout “Malcolm Todd,” especially in “Bleed (feat. Omar Apollo).” Much like how the visualizer for “Doll” features Todd sitting on a dilapidated couch along the side of a house with a bloody nose, the music video for “Bleed” opens with Todd getting punched while walking around the city. Todd’s attackers lead him to a boxing ring, and Todd joins the match, getting knocked out as Apollo sings and Jack Harlow cheers from the sidelines. Todd uses a comparison between innocence and pain — the music video’s ending scene features him bloody and bruised on the subway, smiling as he sits next to a young child in a Freddy Fazbear hat who eyes his bruises and stares down the camera.
The lyrics of “Bleed” suggest a relationship gone sour rather than physical pain as represented in the video. Todd sings of how his partner can take “Control of how [his] heart bleeds,” and Apollo encourages their toxic control, singing, “Put your hands around my ribcage.”
The tension mounted by the successive tracks of “Chest Pain (I Love),” “Doll” and “Bleed (feat. Omar Apollo)” is tempered by the following interlude, “Good Job Malcolm.” Only a minute long, the song begins with the cheery voice of a woman saying “Good job Malcolm” before transitioning to an orchestral string piece, eventually coupled with a bright synth. The strings, arranged by Miles Tobel, are optimistic and upbeat, as if the worries and pain of the three previous songs have already been forgotten.
Todd jumps right back into his whisper-shout crooning in “Lying” following the brief interruption of “Good Job Malcolm.” He includes a final brief one-minute interlude, “I Do,” which expresses the soft-spoken vows of an intimate couple against the warm chords of an acoustic guitar.
Todd ends the album with “I’ll Come Back For You,” a promise to both the recipient of the song, who causes him to cry, and his fans. The song is melancholy — a stark contrast from his previously painful and dramatic songs — and features a quiet horn, acoustic guitar and whistles. Soft strings play throughout the song and the piece comes to a hopeful close as a muted electric guitar comes in, ending with a sole bass guitar and low whistles and hums. Once more, a voicemail from a woman plays as she encourages Todd, and another lets him know that he’s ready to be picked up.
Todd isn’t done with the album promotion yet; his “The Wholesome Rockstar Tour” begins May 1, during which he will perform songs from the album. Fans can catch shows in LA on June 16, 17 and 18.
Corinna Chin is an Arts & Entertainment Assistant Editor. She can be reached at corinnac@uci.edu.
Edited by Alaina Retodo