We called it, and they’ve confirmed it—DNCE, the funk-pop outfit composed of vocalist Joe Jonas, guitarist JinJoo Lee, bassist Cole Whittle and drummer Jack Lawless, is coming to Manila.
The band will be sharing the stage with 5 Seconds of Summer, Two Door Cinema Club, Zara Larsson, Daya and Dua Lipa for the second installment of MMI Live’s In The Mix music fest, which happens on Au. 17 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
While counting the days until the band’s first PH visit, Super takes its platinum-selling self-titled album for a spin to find out just why DNCE has been hailed as one of the hottest new acts to ride the pop charts.
Quirky quartet
If you loved the quirky quartet’s ridiculously fun summer anthem “Cake By The Ocean,” you’ll be happy to know that there’s plenty more where that came from.
The four-track EP “Swaay” was a tantalizing taste of things to come, with singles “Cake” and the sweetly seductive “Toothbrush” racking up millions of streams and views across the globe. After realizing that they’ve hit commercial success, the foursome decided to delay the release of their full-length album to polish it up a bit more.
The result is pure, straight-up fun—a thoroughly enjoyable mix of retro-funk and pop-punk that will keep you, well, dancing from start to finish.
Released locally under MCA Music, “DNCE” starts with the rousing title track, with disco ditties like “Doctor You,” “Naked,” “Zoom” and “Unsweet” alternating with the slick soul grooves of “Body Moves,” “Toothbrush,” “Be Mean” and “Pay My Rent.”
Cheeky lyrics
A decidedly grown-up Joe Jonas goes all cheeky with the lyrics, with whimsical metaphors and raunchy innuendoes that complement the band’s silly yet sexy sound. (Trivia: “Cake By The Ocean” actually refers to the phrase “sex on the beach” that got lost in translation while in the studio with Swedish producers, and it stuck. Go figure.)
In the midst of all that euphoria, a couple of slow jams show the band’s “softer” side: the soaring power ballad “Almost” and the heartfelt acoustic tearjerker “Truthfully,” where a woeful Jonas sings “I love you more than you love me” in that falsetto of his. Cue fangirly squealing.
There are even a few tracks that sound like a throwback to ’90s pop gems—there’s a hint of Smash Mouth in “Blown,” and a bit of that Sugar Ray swagger in the lazy post-hangover song “Good Day.”
Of course, you can’t miss the echoes of Extreme in “Truthfully”—the heartbroken millennial’s answer to “More Than Words.”
Overall, “DNCE” is a pretty darn good album that deserves a plum spot in our go-to summer playlists.
It’s perfect for a road trip to the beach, or any occasion that requires us to let our hair down and simply have a good time.
We’ll be putting this on repeat until Joe and Co. get here and bring this party to life.
Grab a copy of DNCE’s self-titled debut album at your local Astroplus and Astrovision stores.
Download and stream the album on Spinnr.ph, iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify, or buy it via this link: https://link.to/DNCEPDI.
