The All-American Rejects are one of those bands that immediately take me back to my adolescence, where they were essentially inescapable. They emerged with a singular energy that evoked images of backyard house parties and a whole set of songs filled with relatable lyrics and teenage anthems. It seemed like you couldn’t go five minutes without hearing Move Along on the radio and Gives You Hell was the break-up song for a lot of people before they were even old enough to have one. Hell they even did a collab with Lego for Bionicle if anyone here remembers that!
After a decade of being fairly quiet, the Rejects have recently emerged from hibernation with a highly successful run of house-party shows and an arena tour with their contemporaries, The Jonas Brothers. But all of that was just the beginning. Their long awaited fifth album Sandbox comes out this January and with that has come a string of singles including Easy Come, Easy Go, Eggshell Tap Dancer, and Search Party.
Their latest single, Get This, has come just in time for the holidays and marks a bit of a departure from the youthful, rebellious vigour that characterised their earlier works and that shift comes as a welcome surprise. The Rejects have spent much of their hiatus working on other projects and it’s clear to me that the time off has let them seriously hone their songwriting chops. In an era where modern rock increasingly blurs into polished pop, it’s refreshing to hear a track like Get This that walks the line between the two while still retaining its own character
One of the most striking elements appears immediately. The acoustic guitars in the intro sound as though they were recorded up close with a well-worn instrument pulled straight from the cupboard, a choice that adds texture and intimacy rather than gloss. It’s definitely not the clinical, pristine guitar tone that you’ll hear in a lot of pop songs nowadays.
While the band does employ familiar modern touches, with some catchy drum synths and contemporary production flourishes, the track remains an understated meditation on ruminating on a lingering thought about someone from your past, a theme that I think most people can relate to. The vocals throughout add to this slow-burn sense of tension, carefully building atmosphere without ever reaching a full release. That restraint plays a significant role in the song’s melancholy quality.
While Get This sits comfortably in pop and indie rock territory, it distinguishes itself by using the space it has very thoughtfully. The track treats sound as a canvas, demonstrating a clear understanding of when to add colour, when to pull shade, and when to let silence do the work. When it pulls away the steady bass line during the bridge, you become aware of how much warmth and texture that the bass brings to the verses. The payoff to all of this is an intentionally unresolved need for closure that lingers just long enough to make you want to give it another spin.
I was gutted when the band had to pull out of Good Things but with Sandbox about to make its way out into the world on January 9th, I’m sure they’ll be touching down in Australia very soon. You can watch their holiday-inspired music video for a bit of Christmas cheer below:
That’s it from the OnlyBands team this year and what a year we’ve had! Thanks to all of our readers for their continued support and we don’t just mean that in the sense you all physically support our editor when he decides to push the limits of a venue’s public liability insurance. See you all in 2026.
