CanTunes Tuesday: "Pocket Full of Dreams" - Hedley

Hey, something I neglected to mention in my last Canadian review: Canadian songs are making it onto the current chart again!

I know, I'm excited too. It means I get to review new acts, like... Hedley again?

All right, fine. "Pocket Full of Dreams" it is. This song is boring.

...

There. Review over. Y'all can go back to your lives now. Nothing more to see here.

All right, I'll try to analyze it further. So, yes. This song is definitely boring. But why is it boring? From whence does the boredom emanate? Did I even use half those words right? So many questions, and so little to answer with!

Okay, so the last Hedley song I reviewed was their 2007 hit, "For the Nights I Can't Remember", which was a love ballad just like this one. But there's a stark difference between the two: "For The Nights I Can't Remember" sounds like it came from an actual band.

Look, for all intents and purposes, the two are thematically similar. But "For The Nights I Can't Remember" puts soul and feeling into its words, while "Pocket Full of Dreams" sounds like it just fell off a conveyor belt in a pop music factory.

Even Hoggard's voice sounds more calculated than it does in his "Nights" performance. I hung onto every word he belted in that song, but here he doesn't grab me at all. This is a much safer performance with no raw edge in his vocals or anything to keep me hanging on. It's the exact kind of adult contemporary music that won't offend anybody, but won't really grab their attention, either. They just leave it on because they're too lazy to change the station. Hey, it happens.

*sigh* What else is there to say about this? Anything of note in the lyrics?

Honestly, the lyrics are pretty muddled. Hoggard is trying to get across the idea that this girl means everything to him, but it's just a bunch of comparisons and analogies thrown in like a messy salad.

I know if I smoke then I might die
But I won't die for anything but you

You know if you smoke then you might die? Hold on, when did this become an anti-smoking PSA?

Yeah, I wish.

The other thing is, I'm only noticing these lyrics now, looking back on them, because the song's so boring I didn't even care enough to pay attention to them the first time. It's just this dull drag of music for almost four minutes, which usually isn't that long, but when you're making boring music like this, it can last an eternity listening to it.

My dream is that Hedley gets their shit together and starts making better music again. Don't let me down again, boys.