Top 6 Underrated songs from The Neighbourhood

At first, I wasn't a big fan of The Neighbourhood. I knew of the band when Sweater Weather came out. I remember seeing the stats on the Vh1 weekend countdown in the summer of 2013. I saw the success and it did have a good sound, but I wasn't entranced by the song. It just didn’t click with me. A couple of years later, I gave it a listen again, and I did find myself liking the song at a time when I could appreciate the sound and lyrics. Sweater Weather has been known as the magnum opus and only success of The Neighbourhood. The lead singer has even said it as well, that Sweater Weather will be all that's known to the legacy of the band. Although, the band has made some fantastic songs with unique sounds and lyrics. Most bands usually do the same routine, but not this one.

The Neighbourhood has been a band to enjoy and relate to for the raw songs from any kind of problem you're dealing with in range from a somber vibe to a sketchy vibe. Since Sweater Weather, they have had some moderate success with some movies, songs inserted into TV episodes, and concerts.

I'd like to share the songs that have not been on the radar, but they should be given the same treatment as the Sweater Weather. Now, these songs are not in a range of favorite to least favorite. They are all equal in my love for them.

1. Honest (From The Amazing Spiderman 2, Original motion picture soundtrack)

This isn’t known But this song was in the amazing Spiderman soundtrack for the second movie. It was sadly overlooked and it only shows up if you buy the song on iTunes that was associated with the movie.

But it is a song that can stand on its own without the association of the Spiderman movie or Hans Zimmer. It is a song that hits you right in your heart about just wanting the trust of vulnerability from the other. That the mask can finally go down and you can see what the real person is.

2. Single (From the album: Wiped Out!)

This is a prime example of how this band utilizes different sounds to make every song feel like its own brand of the genre.

I love the beginning with the high keys and guitar strings. Already giving an ambiance of the soft surroundings.

The song is about wanting to make the first move with the enchanting feelings he has for this girl, he goes on to state these wonderful qualities about this girl. He wishes that it could have been different, but she's in another relationship and he has to accept that or wait for things to be different when she's not with this other guy.

All he can hope for is that she never gets hurt.

It's defiantly a lighthearted song about the reality of having a crush or desire for a relationship won't work out as planned, but handling it positively.

When you get to the time code of 2:09, turn up your volume, close your eyes and sway to this song.

3. Staying Up (From the album: I Love You.)

The song starts as a lullaby with chimes and rings. Like an old toy piano, you'd hear. Then the ambiance transitions to this leery, unsettling, dark grudge beat, like something is creeping up.

The song begins with his lack of food, just sitting and making rap beats in a basement while refraining from sleep. He's running on fumes and fears staying up.

I’ve gotten two different perceptions of this song, it could be someone that is an insomniac and they have a struggling life of literal demons chasing after this person especially when the singer says, "Something is out there".

That there’s no desire to sleep because there’s no peace in sleep.

4. Wires (From the album: I’m Sorry...)

This one took a while to grow on me.

In most of the songs from The Neighbourhood, there has a feeling of misunderstanding or internal trouble, but a range of different types of anxieties are explained within the songs. This one has the singer explain about giving up on a friend that has addiction issues. To watch this person fall from his own choices. Comparing these lyrical wires to what drug use is like, being rewired to only have the mindset for addictive uses. This one sort of feels like a sketchy version of Shock The Monkey by Peter Gabriel.

This song does explain the difficulties of watching this friend fall into a deeper hole from bad decisions, as well as trying to reason to change their lives, only to see it's too late.

5. Female Robbery (From: I Love You.)

Hearing the opening, it holds up to the title. Hearing the screams, sounding like a crime, or witnessing this crime that has happened.

It’s a very sketchy song that leaves much interpretation for what horrendous crime has happened.

It’s a song that talks about going to dive into the dark side of criminal activity and vowing to have this criminal partner.

It almost feels as if this woman is running away with this criminal that she wanted. To protect him from law enforcement, to continue this life of crime.

But it almost feels like it’s all in her head with a conspiracy with the way most of the song is explained from the unhinged psyche. Especially with the lyric, "I bet they planned it all out, like the shows, went everywhere I go". Or she's paranoid that something will happen to her felon.

There are a lot of possibilities as to what exactly Female Robbery is.

6. Afraid (From I Love You.)

This song has been a personal savior to me. I was going through a very rough patch in my life, this summed up exactly how my inner turmoil was. This song en-captures what depression and anxiety are like.

In the music video, Jesse Rutherford was criticized for being nude in the portrayal of what anxiety is like. In the music video, he sits there fidgeting and worrying. It was to show what vulnerability is like, to feel that exposed, I praise him for that bold choice to showcase what depression and anxiety feel like. He's said that he's had his battles with depression and anxiety, and this has to be the song that correctly explains what that is like. It's a battle within yourself, constantly afraid of yourself and who you've become.

I feel that the mainframe of the song-

You're too mean, I don't like you, fuck you anyway

You make me wanna scream at the top of my lungs

It hurts but I won't fight you

You suck anyway

-can be interpreted as the singer's dislike for someone else (either lashed out unintentionally or they are terrible) or they are telling themselves that. I feel it's the latter of it because I've defiantly told myself how much I hate myself during my past dark days. I had moments I couldn't even look in a mirror because I hated myself and I didn't like who I was.

Everyone is afraid of something, but the worst is how mental health becomes altered to the point that our bodies and soul are distorted to become someone else we can't recognize.

In my opinion, The Neighbourhood has changed the spectrum of songs and created something beautiful and vulnerable. I hope this list has been a good starter for expanding your interest in listening to this band.