Good Charlotte Motel Du Cap Album Review by Rob Johnson
It’s been a while since I checked in with Good Charlotte; indeed, it’s been a while since they have been active at all. Motel Du Cap, the band’s 8th studio album, marks their return to the studio after seven long years, and nobody will be surprised to learn that nothing much has changed.
The record begins with ‘Rejects’ (after a brief intro song), and it’s exactly what one would expect from a Good Charlotte album opener. A catchy pop-punk riff, vague lyrical nods towards being a misfit, heartfelt lyrics… It’s quite comforting to know that I haven’t knowingly heard a Good Charlotte song in the wild since 2004, and yet nothing has changed. Actually, that’s not true. While there are angsty lyrics on this record (frontman Joel Madden intones, ‘Sometimes I wish I wasn’t born at all’ on this first track proper), much of the lyrical content is given over to how in love Madden is (presumably with his Nicole Richie, his wife of 15 years).
‘Stepper’ is a tale of two losers in love done good. It sounds like late-era Weezer, both musically and in terms of Madden’s overwrought, slightly self-conscious lyrics. As with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, though, Madden wears this kind of lyrical soul-bearing better as an older man. He seems more assured of his place in the world.
‘I Don’t Work Here Anymore’ is very Blink-182 – a song that convincingly captures the spirit of working a shitty job in a shitty town, despite the fact that Madden presumably hasn’t been part of that world for a long time. Unfortunately, things take a dip from there. Look, I’m glad that Madden is happy, but ‘Life is Great’ is far too saccharine, and then Wiz Khalifa starts rapping, and it becomes plain bad. Bad Charlotte. ‘Pink Guitar’ is just another Blink rip-off, and ‘Mean’ confirms that Madden has big emotions but he isn’t very good at expressing them beyond very base level lyrics (here he asks ‘Why Are You So Mean?’ – a reminder that this is a man rapidly approaching 50). ‘Vertigo’ fares better with its chunky riff and catchy chorus. It helps that the song moves along quickly, so there is no time to focus on the lyrics. It’s hard not to think that this is the best version of Good Charlotte.
The album closes with three ballads. ‘Dress Rehearsal’ sees Madden asking, ‘Is anybody listening?’, in what is either a rare moment of self-aware introspection or just more boilerplate lyrics. It’s hard to know which. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, after all. As a new father myself, I can be more forgiving about Madden’s touching verse about meeting his son for the first time. This newfound profundity doesn’t last long, however, and ‘Castle in the Sand’, the second ballad at the album’s end, finds Madden considering his legacy before defaulting into another syrupy chorus about how in love he is.
Motel Du Cap closes out with ‘GC Forever’. As with fellow 2000s star Eminem, Madden loves to rake up his difficult childhood in his music, but admittedly, he does that to great effect here. It’s the most affecting song on the album, and it’s no coincidence that it’s also the song that sounds the most like the band’s heyday on their 2002 breakthrough record The Young and the Hopeless. It’s a strong finish to an uneven album that is probably about as effective as a Good Charlotte album can be in 2025. While their moment in the sun has long passed, there is no bitterness on this album. On the contrary, based on the lyrics here, Madden is perfectly content. This won’t be the record to thrust the band back into the public consciousness, but you get the impression that Madden and his band don’t really care. Good on them.
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