CJ Jarratt, a solo purveyor of that early 2000s pop-punk sound we all secretly still crank up in our cars, has just dropped a new single, “Bad For My Teeth.” And honestly? It feels like finding a half-melted candy bar in the pocket of your favorite old hoodie – sweet, familiar, and probably not very good for you, but you’re going to devour it anyway.
The song gnaws at the core of a toxic relationship, the kind that’s all shimmering surface and jagged edges underneath. CJ Jarratt lays it bare: this isn’t some romantic tragedy; it’s an addiction. He’s trapped. She is his queen and his virus all in one go. He Knows this entanglement with the alluring and destructive significant other, is bad, that their manipulative controlling behaviours are eating him from inside, yet he can’t leave. It’s the kind of lyrical honesty that makes you check your own pulse. Are you okay? Have you ever felt this stuck?
Suddenly, I’m thinking about Icarus. Did he, too, feel this exhilarated as the wax melted? A bit dramatic, perhaps, but this Power Pop sound has this way of opening up all old, the unhealed parts, doesn’t it?.
The song is a sonic contradiction, bouncing between the energy of a stadium anthem and the intimacy of a confession whispered to a bathroom mirror. The theme is that raw ache, beautifully constructed in a head bobber sound, of knowing something is destroying you, and loving, maybe, every excruciating second.
It explores deeply, what a terrible addiction feels, sounds, smells. How powerlessness and love are twisted together to tie the perfect destructive knot.
It’s messy, chaotic, and painfully real. This thing about feeling trapped is not, in itself, new, is it? But this exploration is something.
Maybe that’s the point. Or maybe I’m just projecting.
“Bad For My Teeth” is available now. Listen, reflect, and maybe call your therapist. Or don’t. It’s your call.
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