Bear with me, the title is not just a blatant attempt to get your attention (well, maybe a tiny bit).

Over the years and especially in the last decade I’ve noticed a worrying trend with Jon’s songwriting style. There’s been a slow shift towards stating the obvious when it comes to “serious” themes, and stating it again, and again and DID YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST SAID BECAUSE I WILL REPEAT IT AGAIN IN THE SECOND VERSE AND I HOPE I WAS CLEAR ENOUGH TO CONVEY THE MESSAGE, DAMN IT, IT’S A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE. It's as if there are two tiny Jons fighting for songwriting dominance inside his head. The one that had the magic touch to suck you into the song and feel the pain/heartbreak/anguish no matter what the song is really about and the one who writes utter garbage weak, contrived and trite lyrics like the ones from "Welcome to Whenever You Are", that slow song from LH, half of TC, most of WAN if memory serves right, "Touch of Grey", "Walls" and most of 2020 again. I was actually astonished to see how many of these songs we’ve had in the last 20 years, I thought it was only a couple that I really hated but there’s a clear trend here.

Let’s not pretend his songwriting is top-notch most of the time. He unashamedly uses easy clichés as crutches left and right, that’s part of his brand and I have no problem with that when it comes to the fun, simple songs. But he does know how to nail the hard stuff, he knows how to work with lyrics, music and delivery to create the right feeling, he’s done it as recently as the last two albums so it’s not something he lost ages ago. He just chose a different path for this new album.

That’s why 2020 as a whole didn't work for me. The lyrics are very on the nose, there's no subtlety or finesse, no real substance, just big words and nice sentiments. Jon used to ace this kind of thing when it mattered and he does find a good balance in "Brothers in Arms", which unsurprisingly I really liked, so not sure what happened with the rest of the songs. Well, I'm actually sure that what happened is that Jon wanted to go with his vision no matter what so he went full-on political/socially conscious without any filters and that's his choice, I just don't think he got it right, he sounds either preachy or patronizing and I’m sure he intended quite the opposite. His heart is in the right place but the lyrics are giving me whiplash, taking me out of the songs over and over again when he states facts, most of the time literally out of the news. I get what he wants to do, he’s not in the mood for sugarcoating things and using metaphors when talking about themes like gun violence, civil rights, police brutality. I truly get it and I agree that’s something that needs to be addressed without mincing words, but he’s done this type of songs from the beginning of his career and those old songs still feel current, could apply to our sorry state of affairs, the metaphors are sometimes simple but very powerful and timeless, that’s why they are ****ing amazing songs, it’s not because of the words he chose, it’s how he poured his all into the lyrics. It really shows in his old “serious” songs. But most of 2020 songs you don’t get his pain over the wrongs of the world and I believe it’s because he’s trying too hard to get the message right, to make a point and ensure there are no double meanings or second guessing. Maybe it’s because he has this new "**** the fans who feel alienated by my lyrics/new music style" attitude, which I would usually applaud, but I feel he’s gone overboard this time and the end result feels very forced.

Take “Blood in The Water” for example. The parallels with "Dry County" are obvious and are obviously there for a reason, Jon didn’t just fancy upgrading the sound of an old fan favorite. The song structure, the themes, the images it evokes, they are pretty similar and I’m sure Jon intended BITW to work as a bookend, not just a callback, and for the most part it really works: the song is beautifully constructed, the solo is a bit underwhelming but tasteful nonetheless coming from Phil, vocally it’s also very reminiscent of times long past and it’s one of the few songs in the new album where his current vocal state doesn’t detract from the song but enhances it, there’s a vulnerability that really fits the song, but (you saw this coming) the Jon that wrote "Dry County", and "These Days" and "Saturday Night" and many others wouldn’t have left that iffy line about the Russian hack bot. The song conveys the message wonderfully without that reality check. It’s super jarring and takes you immediately out of an otherwise almost perfect song. You might say that I’m overreacting, that’s it’s just one line in the bridge (what’s up with bridges lately, they’ve been pretty hit or miss) that goes pretty unnoticed and it’s true, it does, but I’m still absolutely baffled that Jon could not come up with a better lyric in line with the rest of the song. It would've taken him like 30 seconds to realize that his audience is not that stupid and knows what the song is about, hammering the point to let you know there’s a reality outside is what’s commonly known as breaking the 4th wall and that’s not a good thing unless used for comedic purposes.

I’ve never been big on nostalgia but I’ve had "Santa Fe" (not "Dry County", strangely enough) stuck in my head ever since I heard the snippet for "Blood in The Water" and well… I keep shaking my head in sad disbelief like an old lady. See Jon, you did that to me, you turned me into that bitter old “stay off my lawn" person (awwww poor Jon, that’s not true).

I know he’s still got it and I hope 2020 is just a phase.

But I have to say that these lyrics (from a song I didn't enjoy at all, "Let it Rain") really got me in the grand scheme of things:

Somewhere there's forgiveness, for the broken ones like me,
Who once stared down mighty mountains, and now they sit beneath the trees,

S'ok Jon, you are forgiven. I still love ya, you old stubborn bastard