Review: ‘Hesitant Alien’ doesn’t disappoint

Gerard Way’s first solo album is dynamic, eye-catching

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Former lead singer of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way, released his first solo album Hesitant Alien on Sept. 30, 2014. With techno undertones and strong influences from Britpop artists like Queen and David Bowie, Way’s album is dynamic and eye-catching.

When MCR broke up on March 22, 2013, many fans were distraught and were expecting the band members to not produce anything music-wise for a while. In Gerard’s case, that was true. For most of 2013, he worked on writing new comic books and spending time with his daughter and wife. On March 25, 2014, MCR’s greatest hits album May Death Never Stop You came out. Gerard worked heavily on it, making the statue featured on the cover and compiling all the songs. In the summer of 2014, he started releasing singles and began touring again to promote his album.

Hesitant Alien is an intergalactic-esque record created by fusing many different genres into one that only Gerard Way could create. He’s known for staying outside of the box on all his projects, but this album really is different from anything else out right now.

Demos of two of the songs, “Zero Zero” and “Millions” have been circulating since early 2011, so because fans already knew the songs, they were among the more popular off the album. “Millions,” along with its super psychedelic music video, has a weird space vibe to it. “Zero Zero,” on the other hand, has a more modern tone.

There are two singles on the album, one of them being “Action Cat.” As the first single officially released on June 11, it has received the most attention from fans and media. Although it’s not the best song on the album, it still keeps the vibe and creates a funky tune to dance to with friends.

The other single “No Shows,” which came out on Aug. 18, fully captures the feel of the entire album. It sounds like it’s straight from the 80’s with its fun beat and cool vocal delivery.

Among the fans, one song stands out in particular for the most popular on the album, “Juarez.” Its heavy guitar and strong lyrics remind fans of MCR, so it’s kind of bittersweet, but it still has Gerard’s new genre in it.

The staged interviews that can be found online of Gerard being interviewed by intergalactic TV show hosts and the spacey vibes of Hesitant Alien truly create a world like no other.