Every year there is that worst-of list entry that I don’t really have much to write about, either because it’s not an obvious pick or its criticisms have all been done before. This is that entry, so let’s just get this over with.

“The Ending” – Papa Roach

Rock
#1 peak (March 13, 2021)
#29 year-end, 20 weeks on chart

Papa Roach are one of those bands, like 3 Doors Down or Breaking Benjamin, that I don’t have a strong opinion on one way or the other. I don’t really have that Papa Roach song that I love (the closest would probably be “Last Resort,” but even as an angst-ridden teenager I quickly moved on to other things), and even this song isn’t really a song I truly hate. But it has a fatal flaw that has sunk bands and songs before.

First off, I’m startled that this song was successful, in large part because of its album cycle. At the time I am writing this, this song is nearly three years old already, as its parent album Who Do You Trust? was released in January 2019. By the time this song hit #1 on the charts in March, the song was over two years old. It’s been two years since I first learned about this album, when the Youtube reviewer sphere slammed this album as one of the worst of the year due to its attempts to incorporate the Imagine Dragons electronic/beep-boop formula into their hard rock sound. I would understand it more if this was a song from an up-and-coming band, similar to how Maroon 5’s breakthrough album Songs About Jane was released in 2002 but didn’t have success until 2004, but this is from Papa Roach, a band that has released ten albums, with another coming in 2022. So why doesn’t the song work?

As a song from an album that was disparaged for sounding like Imagine Dragons, my first instinct would be to criticize the music. After all, that is the main reason I’m not a fan of Imagine Dragons, as the music is so bland, characterless, and commercialized. But no. The music, on first glance, isn’t horrible. Sure, it’s far more based on keyboards and synths than their standard material, but at least the prominent guitar parts are still there, unlike when Fall Out Boy and 30 Seconds To Mars attempted to go the same route. The only real problem I have with it is that the music is repetitive, with the song using the same four chords in the same order for the entire song, with the exception of the bridge. In order to understand why this song is being covered today, we need to get into the lyrics.

In an interview with Billboard, frontman Jacoby Shaddix said that this song, and the majority of Who Do You Trust?, is about how losing trust can negatively impact relationships with loved ones. Shaddix explained, “I’ve been the person that’s broken trust in my life at one point or another, so I’ve been on both sides of it. Feeling the pain of being let down, that’s tough stuff.” And the song frames that it is about struggling with trust issues. There is a big problem with this, however.

Wish I could whine just a little less
Wish I could cry, end all the noise up inside my head
When it’s over, it’s over, it’s over

We don’t really get the point that Shaddix made, that “The Ending” is about both sides of the trust issue. More than anything, lyrics like “wish I could cry, end all the noise up inside my head” sound as if they were truly about how Shaddix was the victim. Not liking how this is going, but maybe there’s a valid reason for it. Was he bullied? Are there specific examples as to why he is in this predicament? Uh, no. The chorus comes in and wrecks everything.

I‘m watching all the moves you make
Can’t turn back now, it’s too late

I’m counting all of your mistakes
Caught up in a crossfire hurricane

This song can best be exemplified as… this.

Yet again, we have a wangst anthem. “The Ending” is yet another song where the protagonist is whining and complaining about someone else and how that single person makes their life miserable. It is to 2021 what “Antisocialist” and “Inside Out” were to last year. Seriously, if this man is so reprehensible, why don’t you just stop spending time with him? But even worse, “The Ending” takes the basic principle of a song complaining about insignificant things and combines it with the prior thesis of the narrator being a victim. So now the song’s about Shaddix’s character not only being mad that he is on the short end of the stick, but also going out of his way to yell and scream at others, because… reasons. He is using the guise of a victim to avoid fessing up to his own insecurities and taking responsibility for his actions. And that is where “The Ending” becomes a failure as a song. The protagonist is the real enemy. No, it is not the most over-the-top example of wangst I have gone through on this blog, it’s not even close to “Antisocialist” or “Lonely Boy” levels of whining. Heck, it’s not even close to the most immature song of the year (foreshadowing, I know). But the fact that the song presented itself as a song about losing levels of trust only to be a song about disrespecting someone for “moves” and “mistakes” that are not discussed at any level ruins what the song was going for.

And it isn’t just that the song is nothing more than vague complaining. If you’re wondering why my description isn’t as over the top as some of my other criticisms, it’s for a simple reason. This song is just so boring. Not only does the chord structure hardly ever change, the synth riff gets old fast and the guitars, while present, fail to provide any interesting riffs or dynamics. It’s a song that will likely not offend you in the way other angsty songs do. It will simply cause you to fall asleep. And that’s really all I have to say about “The Ending.” It is a song that fails to maintain its intended premise and it… it…

UP NEXT: At #5, I present my annual award for the worst cover song of the year.

SOURCES

“The Ending.” Songfacts 2021. Web. 29 December 2021 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/papa-roach/the-ending

Chords for “The Ending” confirmed via Chordify: https://chordify.net/chords/papa-roach-songs/the-ending-chords

IMAGE SOURCES

Who Do You Trust? album artwork from Genius

Photo of a man pointing and yelling is a stock photo from Pexels.com, provided by WordPress

Photo of cat sleeping is a stock photo from Pexels.com, provided by WordPress