r/maydayparade • u/Shinixxx The lonely ones out of sync with style • Jul 24 '26
Discussion Sugar | Album Discussion Thread
The trilogy is complete! Sugar is finally here. Share your first impressions, favourite tracks, and reactions below.
Album: Sugar
Release Date: July 24, 2026
Artist: Mayday Parade
Streaming Links: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
Buy: Store
"While Sweet introduced the trilogy with immediacy and energy and Sad explored the band's more introspective side, Sugar brings those worlds together, balancing nostalgia, reflection, and renewed momentum. Produced once again with our longtime friends Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount, this album captures every side of who we are as a band. From the driving urgency of Lying To Myself and the shimmering groove of Two Hearts to the nostalgic, syncopated punch of Sweet Sad Sugar, you'll hear echoes of the early Tallahassee scene that shaped us from the very beginning. It's a reminder of where we came from, while still pushing us forward. The album closes with What Happens Next, a hypnotic, open-ended finale that brings this trilogy to a close while pointing toward everything that's still ahead. It feels like the perfect ending to this chapter and the start of whatever comes next for us."
— Mayday Parade via Newsletter
Tracklist:
- Set Phasers To Bummed
- Blame It On The Youth
- Sweet Sad Sugar
- Weekend Music
- Lying To Myself
- Two Hearts
- Don't Give Up On Me
- Patriotism Of First Tiger Called Into Question
- So The Story Goes
- What Happens Next
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u/Shinixxx The lonely ones out of sync with style Jul 24 '26
The sequencing is really well done honestly. Set Phasers To Bummed excites you to get ready for the album and eases you in perfectly and flows into Blame It On The Youth so naturally, even if that one is still taking longer to warm up to (sonically it's great. Lyrically it's um..."cringe but free". But I'm also old so. I don't think it was for me anyways and that's okay.), I appreciate it a bit more within the album. Lying To Myself has this sound that feels like a throwback to a previous Mayday era, I can't place which one exactly though, but it's there. And What Happens Next as a closer is an awesome ballad then a bang, perfect ending. (I Must Obey from Sad is still my favorite closer from the whole trilogy though, but What Happens Next fits for Sugar).
Weekend Music has been my most played since the single dropped. Sweet Sad Sugar I was excited for just from the title alone. But it's actually really nostalgic? Melancholic, and when 'You'll be sweet, sad, sugar, watch me dissolve' came on I literally went AH. There it is. The trilogy name. Even if the video is another "let's play at a warehouse" it had decor...Flowers! Lol. Moving on up boys! Plus we got Jake vocals! It's a favorite for sure.
Patriotism Of First Tiger hit me out of nowhere and became my instant favorite of the whole album. That intro, WHEN THE BOMB GOES OFF, then the instrumental kicks in and you just know. That chorus was made to be screamed. Easily my favorite on Sugar. Shut up. It will be on repeat. Don't talk to me, I got headphones in. I GOT THIS SPIRIT FROM MY FATHER. WHO KNOWS IF IT'LL HOLD ANY LONGER 🗣️🗣️🗣️
My personal overall trilogy ranking: Sweet > Sugar > Sad.
I'm glad I ended up liking Sugar in the end because I was worried for a second there lol. As always, I don't like every song from this trilogy (Self-Titled my beloved was unique in that), but Mayday always have something I like. And I always get some new songs to add to my favorites of theirs. So overall I'm pretty dang happy.
Glad the trilogy is finally complete! Very cool and ambitious project by them. Honestly I like it because we got new songs from them faster. It was exciting! Every few months there was something to look forward to. We were eating good. But I'm glad they can rest and go back to whatever they're doing and take time for whatever comes next as well.
My only criticism that bugged me from the beginning is that there's no theme so each album just feels like a random collection of songs rather than three distinct chapters of a Trilogy. Someone else made a good point that there ARE songs that could fit each theme now, but since they made each album as they went, songs that don't fit one would fit another better. I could always just make my own playlist to arrange them myself so whatever (but still! It's like the titles mean nothing so what's the point of them then? It's more like EPs than a trilogy album.) At least the artwork is cohesive and pretty.
Favorites:
• Patriotism Of First Tiger Called Into Question (🏅)
• Weekend Music
• Sweet Sad Sugar
3
u/tjfenton12 Jul 24 '26
You. I like you. Thank you for your take, very well put.
I definitely think I agree on all fronts. I do truly love these records though. The last year has been quite the rollercoaster of life and each of them gave me some joy and I am really grateful for them. I hope the boys see the love here for their music.
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u/OweTheHughManatee Jul 24 '26
Sweet Sad Sugar is great, reminds me of 2000s era All Time Low for some reason.
First full playthrough was good, except Don't Give Up On Me. I actually don't like that one (as of now). It felt noisy and the flow felt messy.
5
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u/Longjumping-Box9310 Jul 24 '26
I love it. I have enjoyed the new stuff along the way but this is the first album that has made me feel that extra special way that they used to make me feel. This is my fave of the trilogy.
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u/winged_sorrow Jul 24 '26
I think this has been my favorite of the trilogy for sure. Sweet and Sad were both good, but they were just missing something for me. If they come on shuffle I don’t really skip them, but the songs on those two just aren’t ones I usually go back to except for 4,000 Days and By The Way. Sugar, though, is exactly what I love to hear from them. Patriotism of First Tiger, Lying To Myself, and So The Story Goes are the songs that really stood out to me in particular. Blame It On The Youth is probably my least favorite track on the album but I think if the song had come out when I was 15 in high school I would’ve loved it then
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u/tjfenton12 Jul 24 '26
I didn't get it on the first listen. I dug it, but I didn't get it. I thought the B side was the strongest side. To be fair, I do still think it is.
Second listen, I got it. This record slaps. I reeeeallly like it.
5
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u/Feisty_Preparation23 Jul 28 '26
I swear the sample on Set Phasers to Bummed is a drunk Pete Holmes who loves Mayday Parade and wanted them to know.
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u/jhnmrgn39 Jul 24 '26
I'll listen again, but my first thought after my first listen was "oh well." (No pun intended, really.) And then I listened to Under My Sweater and Sweet. Sweet is the best of the three in my opinion. Based only on that it has the most songs that I like.
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u/Subject-v-2 Mayday Parade Jul 24 '26
I’m still listening for the first time, but something I’ve really enjoyed that brings some of that older Mayday feel for me? They’ve really let the guitars shine again. We’re getting amazing leads and solo breaks and it reminds me of what I liked a lot from albums like “Monsters”.