REVIEW: KennyHoopla’s “NEW AMERICA//” Turns Generational Frustration Into Sound
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY ALICIA ZAMORA ☆
Photo by Liam Walsh
KENNYHOOPLA’S “NEW AMERICA//” FEELS LIKE A SONG BUILT AROUND THE FRUSTRATION OF WATCHING HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF— Driven by gritty guitars, a steady rhythm and Kennyhoopla’s raw vocals, the track carries a restless energy that keeps it moving from beginning to end. There’s an urgency to the song, but underneath it is something heavier. He looks at America through the lens of a generation that has inherited many of the same problems before it.
“At its core ‘New America’ is a cynical play on words,” he says. “Modern society sells us a vision of ‘newness,’ but underneath the fresh paint, America is just making the bed but hiding the mess underneath it.”
That idea comes through in one of the track’s central lines: “We’re falling up, it’s the story of my generation.” Kennyhoopla sees that cycle as something that has followed generations before him, even as the way people experience those conflicts has changed.
That tension becomes even more pointed when he sings about a generation still dealing with the same fights that came before it, only now much of that conflict plays out through a screen. It gives “NEW AMERICA//” a frustration that feels personal, especially in the way it captures the realization that so much of the past is still present.
That makes Hammond Jr.’s guitar feel especially fitting here. Growing up listening to The Strokes, working with one of the band’s guitarists brings the track back to one of the influences that helped shape his sound in the first place. “It was a dream came true to finally make something with Albert—I grew up listening to The Strokes like we all did,” he says.
Hammond Jr. keeps his thoughts on the collaboration simple: “Working with Kenny on this was so special. He is definitely one of a kind. I’m happy people can finally hear it.”
The video, directed by Liam Walsh, keeps that same looseness. Moving through a house and its surrounding grounds, he performs the track in the same space used for the “Obsession” video. The visual doesn’t try to spell out the song’s meaning, instead giving it another setting to breathe in. He describes the shoot as a “run-and-gun visual,” built around spontaneous moments rather than anything overly planned.
Following conditions of an orphan//, “NEW AMERICA//” keeps that alternative and indie-rock edge while pushing the focus outward. Where some of his earlier work can feel more inward, this track looks at the bigger picture, asking what it actually means for something to be called “new” when the same problems keep finding their way back.
