All Time Low - Nothing Personal

“We’re just fanboys who got a chance.”

That’s how Jack Barakat, guitarist in All Time Low, once tried to explain why his band is so successful. Actually he only emphasized that band members have favourite bands, too, just like everybody else. Jack is also one of the founders of this band: together with Marc Shilling he started making music in 2003 when they still went to Highschool. Bit by bit both the band members and the band names changed, until All Time Low consisted of the four guys Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson and Zack Merrick. In 2005 they released their debut EP The Party Scene. From now on there followed one album per year and in 2009 Nothing Personal was published, which is my favourite album right after their current one Don’t Panic. 
I assume it’s alright to say that Nothing Personal isn’t as developed or mature as Don’t Panic is but that’s exactly why I love it so much. This album perfectly reflects how young the guys were back then, most of the songs are unburdened and just fun to listen to. For example Weightless, which says “maybe it’s not my weekend but it’s gonna be my year”. Basically your only choice is to believe it because by this lyric you’re already deep enough into the song to sing along or at least tap your toes. This may be one of the reasons why they still play Weightless at almost every concert.
Another completely easygoing song is the fifth: Stella. And with Stella they don’t serenade a pretty girl or one of the guy’s mums, no, Stella is a special brand of beer. It took me forever to figure that out but once you know it, the song becomes even better because Alex really covered the actual topic well.
Probably All Time Low’s most famous song hides in this record: Therapy. First of all I believe that the majority of us fans just can relate to this song a lot and that’s one of the reasons why so many people know it before they actually know the band. Furthermore Therapy is one of their most emotional songs. I recommend you listen to the Straight To DVD Version which makes me tear up basically everytime but also Alex’ speeches before they play the song are very emotional and inspirational.
My favourite song on the record is Lost In Stereo. The story behind it is simple: Alex once spotted a fan during a concert and she had so much fun dancing and singing that she didn’t really pay attention to his attempts of contacting her. She was just so lost in stereo that she didn’t notice anything else. As a conclusion I can say that Nothing Personal isn’t personal indeed. Most of the songs are very radio-friendly and don’t offer too many special lyrics, except from Therapy. If you’re having a good day, celebrate it with this album. If you’re having a bad day, let this album cheer you up.