Mikeru On Western World Music Today

With their last record yielding three Top 20 hits, the All-American Rejects are one of emo's poppiest bands. The manicured hooks on their third album show off AAR's drive, but the songs also show how normal these Oklahoma boys are, as songwriters and humans: The melodies don't get any fancier than the string-and-piano-laden groove on "Fallin' Apart," and the lyrics don't get any darker than "You're never comin' home to me/That's the hardest thing to see." But the sticky-sweet "I Wanna" and the hard-driving "Gives You Hell" have enough Warped Tour whine to grab kids who think Weezer are old.