Proper. have shared the video for ‘Bragging Rights’, a song featuring guest vocals from Willow Hawks of The Sonder Bombs that the band themselves claims ‘brings back Taking Back Sunday-circa-2008 vibes’. The video finds frontman Erik Garlington (in one of the best suits you’ll see this year) embracing two of his biggest fears – being in the spotlight and dancing.
Erik starts the song in defiant mood stating ‘I worked way too hard for this’ before killer Sl0tface-esque riffs comes in and Willow takes over vocal duties with ponderings on the way people of color and women are treated for their actions: ‘I always act so frantic and it just comes off as unstable’. Erik than mentions how he’s had to take risks to carve out lives and careers: ‘Always knew school wasn’t for me, sorry Mom and Dad, I’ll need to take a year off to think. I’m already a fuck-up so what’s one more thing? Just can’t spend my life wondering what I could have been’.
Signed to Big Scary Monsters and inspired by Kanye West (some of the lyrics from his debut album ‘The College Dropout’ feature on ‘Bragging Rights’) and Say Anything’s Max Bemis, this track shows Proper. are a band not afraid to tackle social challenges head on with intensity and passion: ‘I’m no longer confused, but don’t tell anybody. I’m about to break the rules, but don’t tell anybody.’
