Sometimes there’s nothing better than finding a song that can reflect the way the inside of your head feels and I think for most of us right now, that sound would be pretty chaotic. Enter the new single from Goldfinger, featuring blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, “Freaking Out A Bit.” The song was written by John Feldmann of Goldfinger in collaboration with Hoppus and Barker, and you can feel the comfort all three artists have working together (Feldmann notably produced and co-wrote blink’s 2016 album California, along with much of their 2019 follow-up NINE).
“Freaking Out A Bit” is relentless from the moment it opens, with a guitar riff that could just as easily be an 8-bit melody. The drums set the breakneck pace, and the song holds that speed through most of its under-three-minute run time. In classic pop-punk fashion, it’s just long enough to leave you wanting more, and with each loop, the melody sinks deep enough into your brain that you’ll be humming it for at least a week.
Feldmann and Hoppus trade off and share vocals on the song, and their harmonies are strong and satisfying. It feels like the ultimate culmination of all Feldmann’s producing work for blink-182 to finally have Goldfinger, Hoppus, and Barker all sharing the stage like this musically. The track is catchy and enjoyable in its own right, but it’ll be especially pleasing to fans of both bands who are excited by the idea of seeing more collaborations between them.
The pleasantly chaotic sound and long-awaited further team-up aren’t the only things to love here, though — the lyrics are worth spending some time with, too. They’re succinct, but still somehow manage to find a new way to express the thoughts so many of us have had a thousand times before. “Am I crazy and losing my mind? Or am I beating these demons inside?” is just the end of the first verse, but it’s a perfect encapsulation of the overall theme. Sometimes the ultimate struggle in getting better is knowing the difference between backsliding and actually improving, and sometimes it’s not as easy as we wish it was to tell the difference.
The bridge’s refrain, “I’m not right but I’m getting better,” is a mantra that seems familiar and unfamiliar all at once. It’s a fantastic turn of phrase. Maybe your brain doesn’t work the way it’s “supposed to,” and maybe it never will – but we can always keep trying.
Find Goldfinger on social media and go give “Freaking Out A Bit” a listen to hear some fresh new pop-punk from a foundational 90s punk band. You can also catch them at Warped Tour in Long Beach, CA later this month, or at their handful of shows this fall, if you’re lucky.