I love music. Playing music? I wish. More like listening to music. I’m a fan of Coldplay, Macklemore, Fun. and everyone in between (literally). I can’t imagine a day without music, and over the past few years it’s become an integral part of my life. I’m here to share that same love of music with you through album reviews, talking about popular artists and just flat out ranting (disclaimer: it will happen). So I guess from now on, you can call me The Music Man.

In the past few months, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco and Paramore have all released new material. As many dedicated fans like me have noticed, their music sounds … different. From featured artists to electronic beats to the dreaded autotune, these bands have changed. Some fans have been saying that they miss the old bands that they know and love, and I do too. But although I do like their new sounds as well, I don’t want to have to attend the funeral of pop punk any time soon.

All of the bands I mentioned before were known in the past for making music that sounded like punk rock but was a bit lighter, so it was dubbed pop punk. These bands made names for themselves through loud guitars, clever lyrics and vocals that sound like speech, screaming and everything in between. This kind of music struck a chord (no pun intended) with teens like me across the globe and turned into not only music, but a lifestyle for some.

However, their recent material has gone more pop and less punk. With songs like “Miss Jackson,” “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” and “Still Into You,” these bands made their way onto pop radio and into pop hearts. This change was needed, for both the bands and pop music.

In order for a band to stay popular, it can’t make the same music over and over again. They need to switch things up, which was exactly what these bands did with their new songs. They tried new things, got new ideas and made some awesome new pop, not punk, music. Did they sell out? Of course not. These bands already had fans, so this was merely experimental and had no connection to them gaining fans or conforming to musical norms. In fact they left their mark on pop radio, in a day when Miley Cyrus’ twerk tunes and Robin Thicke’s misogynistic music are considered “good.”

Even though this change was much needed, I don’t want things to stay this way forever. I think I speak for many music fans when I say that I still enjoy pop punk and want it to be around for years to come. So while these bands can continue experimenting, it would still be nice to hear some hard guitar chords and borderline yelling vocals. For now though, I think I’ll keep listening to my Fall Out Boy music. All of it.