Within seconds of hearing “Common Sense,” I knew I was listening to a State Champs track. Opening with their particularly plucky brand of pop punk, State Champs plunges you into the story they set up. The protagonist has come to terms with the failure of their relationship, and they are ready to move on from a situation that no longer serves them. Lead singer Derek DiScanio precisely portrays the feeling of someone slipping away, and the frustration of having that person deny it.
As the song continues, the title of the track becomes more poignant: “Common Sense.” Never actually using the phrase, the song takes a twist on the classic expression and says “we never had a sense in common.” The theme of this song is how the protagonist should have seen that the relationship wouldn’t work. All it would take is using common sense to see that they wouldn’t work out, but the protagonist looked past their differences anyway. The protagonist fell so deeply that they would rather look past the red flags and wait until things inevitably fizzled out than waive a white flag. The singer holds on to what isn’t there until they couldn’t stand it anymore.
Following the release of the single on September 2nd, the band dropped a music video on September 15th. The video follows a couple around a house while the band performs in the same rooms that the couple were just in, or while the couple remains inside, playing out their love story. The video depicts mostly happy moments in the couple’s relationship, including romantic scenes in a dusk-lit field.
The soft and sepia-tinged lighting gives the sense that the story depicted is being recalled as a memory. The dated decor and flower-patterned wallpaper also add to this sense of bygone days. Although the scenes depicted are mostly fond memories, you can see the cracks in the relationship in the recollection of arguments between the couple, as well as the love interest’s uninvested disposition peering through their happy moments.
There’s a scene in the music video where the couple takes turns filming each other, and the perspective is that of the camera they use. The song and video give a sense of looking back on a relationship like looking through a camera lens. Although the lighting is just right, and the subject looks perfectly happy in frame, things aren’t always as they seem. The blur in the picture isn’t so obscured anymore, and you’re finally able to see a situation for what it really was.
You can find updates on State Champs on their website: statechamps.band. Follow them on tour: statechamps.band/pages/tour! Stream “Common Sense” on Spotify and Apple Music. Watch the music video for “Common Sense” on YouTube.
