Song Review: "Dead and Gone" by State Champs

State Champs Lives Up to The Name

by Deanna Davenport

I’m going to be completely honest and say that when it comes to State Champs, their music is hit or miss with me. I enjoy their music, but there are plenty of songs that I wouldn’t mind skipping if they showed up on my playlist somehow. They’re a great band and their music isn’t all the same, but they can very easily be pointed out by the prominence of the guitar in their songs, especially during the intro. It’s just really easy to find what works and overdo it a little bit every now and then. With that said, “Dead and Gone” is an absolute hit!

When I sat down in front of my computer and clicked on the music video, I tried to keep an open mind. Like I said, it’s really easy to overdo something that works and that is especially true with pop punk music. The video loaded, and when the music picked up, I fully expected the song to start off almost exactly the way it did. Then it surprised me. Instead of just using all the pop punk clichés, “Dead and Gone” gave more of a nostalgic feel in the way that it brushed close to the clichés pop punk fans love without actually scraping the bottom of the barrel.

What I love most is that anyone who has ever felt like they were in a relationship where the infatuation started to fade and they had no control over it will enjoy this song. Anyone who has felt like they had to keep apologizing to or continuously forgive their significant other will love this song. State Champs did a great job this time around and I’ve already played it about twelve times just for this review. They have a bop on their hands. If you haven’t heard it yet, go check it out on Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, iTunes, or wherever you stream/buy your music.