ALBUM REVIEW: Taylor Acorn – ‘Poster Child’

“When people listen to this album,” says Taylor Acorn of Poster Child, “I just want them to feel like they’re back in a time period that makes them feel good.” It’s a bit of a mouthful of a quote, but the sentiment nonetheless rings true—Poster Child wants to be a pure cut of pop-punk nostalgia-bait. And that’s honestly fine. It bears remembering that Acorn came to prominence among a pop-punk generation that, at best, was lacking in quality, and at worst, was low- to no-grade trash. If she’s willing to roll things back and approach this from a perspective that doesn’t view mgk’s Tickets To My Downfall as a formative, genre-defining release, that’s just peachy.

Of course, pop-punk is no stranger to a Pacific Garbage Patch’s worth of plastic in any of its eras, and when Acorn’s primary creative partner is Dan Swank—best known for work with All Time Low and Cassadee Pope—don’t be expecting transgressions galore. Still, nostalgia is the name of the game, evidently, and you can’t say that Poster Child isn’t locked in on exactly that. Appropriately for Acorn’s first release on Fearless Records, it’s pitched somewhere between their cadre of pop-punk and pop-rock from around 2007 to 2009, and the quasi-adjacent soloists who brought similar sounds into straight-up pop roughly around the same time. And with the concessions to modernity in its ‘deeper’ writing, you’ve pretty much got the full picture.

At least Acorn’s strengths fall out pretty quickly within it. At her best, there’s an honesty about her own perceived flaws and shortcomings on People Pleaser and the title track, sold by a voice that’s more wearied from experience. Almost a decade of releasing music independently has clearly trained her performance in this more full, fluid delivery, a surprisingly rare find in the pop-punk soloist pen. When arrested development is running rife amongst her creative neighbours with little payoff, Acorn giving herself room to breathe and ruminate in her work shouldn’t be undervalued. Yeah, the central imagery in Hangman and Theme Park is a little too on-the-nose for its own good, but a glowing earnestness within them proves its own reward. Even in full ’nostalgia becomes text’ mode on the clap-happy folk-pop of Home Videos, a detail like “playing C-ball in the yard” stands stalwart for how much unique charm it brings.

That’s not to say that Acorn isn’t immune to tripping into some of her peers’ same pitfalls. Blood On Your Hands is the kind of retributive post-breakup song that’s past the point of credulity for someone in their 30s, worsened by its biggest, bombastic blowouts smushed into an overmixed gurgle. On the bright side, that’s an errant musical misstep that the rest of Poster Child can keenly avoid. The mark of a shoestring budget that always eviscerated many other (much richer) artists is a long way away. Striving for boldness in these songs is instantly apparent, as is how Acorn’s ultimately vanilla palette is worked with, instead instead of simply bowed to. It’s no wonder there are such strong traces of Kelly Clarkson, or even Carrie Underwood on Sucker Punch, when that’s where they’ve seen results for their entire careers.

It does bring out that more—for lack of a better word—‘classic’ feel on Poster Child that’s gone sorely neglected recently. A lot of contrasts have been drawn between Acorn and the artists in the scene around her, and while it can feel like harping on a point for too long, there is a purpose to it. Despite how straightforward it is, Poster Child feels like there’s a thrust within it beyond just riding along for TikTok clout. The fact it’s coming out now, a good way after the crux of that pop-punk wave has petered out, would suggest so on its own. But with clear talent, an ear for the style’s best traits and some good songs as a culmination of both, you start to see moves being made that are so refreshingly encouraging for what’s up ahead. From tiny Acorns, and all that.

For fans of: Charlotte Sands, Kelly Clarkson, Honey Revenge

‘Poster Child’ by Taylor Acorn is released on 24th October on Fearless Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall