Club music is dead.
That’s what Joey Valence of Joey Valence and Brae’s shirt said during their Portland stop of their upcoming Hyperyouth tour. Hyperyouth is JVB’s third studio album and is by far their best. The album explores themes of aging, friendship, and the disappointment of a dead club scene in the 2020’s. While the album is completely different from the style of their previous two albums, Punk Tactics and No Hands, the tour is their biggest yet!
The first stop of the tour was the Portland show on September 24th at the Roseland Theater, and it was incredible. The show started with two openers: SoupyPoopy69, a local comedian known for his jokes regarding the Big E (Eugene), and The AG Club, a hiphop group led by bay area artists Joey Fontaine and Baby Boy. Although I was unfamiliar with the group before the show, I would definitely call myself a fan after it; they are a group with so much energy and unique sound that fit JVB’s vibe perfectly! Then right before Joey and Brae came out, their DJ, DJ Ewok, came out and did a set to hype up the crowd.
Before beginning the tour, the duo posted a set of rules for the tour on their Instagram, @jvbsucks. These rules included screaming lyrics, not caring, and mandatory dancing. Fortunately for me, these rules were followed by everyone around me, and it was by far the most fun concert experience I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t just the crowd, the duo performed with so much passion and liveliness and truly kept the whole audience engaged throughout the hour and a half set. You can absolutely tell from watching them that they love what they do and just want to have a good time while they’re young, especially when they played ”See U Dance” and came back out for ‘The Baddest’, their most popular song. Everyone in the room was definitely following the rules for those two songs.
The theme of people dancing is a huge part of the album, both criticizing the current club scene in songs like “Live Right” and ‘Is This Love?’, and inspiring people to dance with ‘See U Dance’, ‘Go Hard’, and my personal favorite, ‘The Party Song’. Joey is the producer of the duo and cites artists like Skrillex and Charli XCX as inspirations for the album, which is absolutely palpable when listening to these songs.
The other central theme of the album is growing up and the feeling of your youth slipping away from you, as explored in the title track ‘Hyperyouth’, ‘Party’s Over’, and ‘Disco Tomorrow’. Although Joey Valence and Brae are generally a superficial group, prior to this album they hadn’t gone into more serious themes, on Hyperyouth their perspectives on growing up are simultaneously relatable and more introspective about aging than I had chosen to be before this album. This really sets in in lines like:
”Where did all of the time go?, Seems like you don’t mind though, Seems like the day goes on, Seems like we all move on, Seems like that’s okay, I kinda wannastay here, But it’s time to move on, The party’s over now, It’s time to go home”.
So, can they revive club music? I’m not sure, but I will absolutely “bust a move like I’m on some wack sh*t” to any of their songs. Brae has said in interviews that he feels like someone just has to be the first to get on the dance floor and tear it up, and I do feel inspired to be that person in the future. You know what, this is my public promise to be that person going forward. I encourage you all to let go and do the same, don’t be afraid to get out there and leave your egos at home! It makes life more fun.
This album is a beautiful, relatable, inspiring, animated masterpiece, and although I do recommend listening to it on your favorite streaming service, they said it themselves,” You won’t really understand until you see it live”.
