Prince Daddy & The Hyena have stepped out of their fifth-wave emo comfort zone and into a new era of nostalgia-soaked pop punk on their 4th LP Hotwire Trip Switch. That’s not to say the emo influence is gone; it’s still baked in, but the delivery explodes like a wad of Big League Chew. The band set out to make a “singles album,” basically banger after banger, and for the most part they succeed. A few tracks fall more into “album cuts,” but themes of isolation, resentment, self-loathing, pettiness, and the slow creep of getting older are layered throughout, all wrapped in one of the most fun-sounding emo records we’ve gotten in a minute.

And yeah, “fun” is a loaded word. This isn’t “was school fun today?” fun. This is early-2000s teen comedy soundtrack fun. Think American Pie, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, TRL-era one-hit wonders like Zebrahead, and the pop-punk boom of Sum 41, Green Day, and even flashes of Weezer. In a lot of ways, this is their All Killer No Filler. Frontman Kory Gregory basically calls the shot on the opening track “24-03-04_Birthday_B4,” a title that feels ripped straight from a LimeWire download folder, "I wont be letting up this time!"

Lyrically, Gregory is at his peak here, balancing vulnerability with genuinely funny, sharp one-liners. He bounces between self-reflection, love, resentment, and healing, all with a cheeky undertone and a real knack for contradiction. Lead single “Big-Box Store Heart” is the clearest example, and probably the top contender for a sync in one of those aforementioned teen comedies. It’s a love song built on classic pop structure, missing your girl, counting down the days, wrapping it all in weather metaphors and emotional highs and lows: “I get my girl back on Friday…” — you get the idea. It’s got shades of The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" in how it builds something simple into something sticky and universal. Gregory’s voice often sounds like it’s about to crack, but in a way that pulls you in rather than pushes you away. You feel it.

Sonically, the band is locked in. The drums have a live-wire energy, pushing everything forward at a breakneck pace without losing that pop-punk bounce. The guitars lean hard into arena-sized hooks and classic rock flourishes, full-on solos, big choruses, and the occasional nod that feels like it’s winking at you. Tracks like “SHITSHOW or Boulevard of Soaking Dreams” (yeah, that’s a "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" nod) and “Oh, Donna” have a classic rock guitar solo, while “W-TEN” dips into a heavier, moodier lane that wouldn’t feel out of place next to Deftones. Each song really commits to its own identity.

That said, not every track lands as a standalone single. Some work better in the context of the album than on their own. “Oh, Donna,” for example, has its moments, but if we’re talking early-2000s associations, That '70s Show kind of permanently claimed that name. It’s hard to shake. The song itself leans into a Counting Crows-ish cosplay and referencing, but if it dropped as a pre-release single, it probably wouldn’t sell you on the full record. Still, in the flow of the album, it makes sense where it lands.

Hotwire Trip Switch is a pretty major pivot for the band, and it works. It doesn’t feel like a one-off experiment, it feels like a group fully committing to a new lane and actually pulling it off. It’s light, poppy, and catchy as hell, but still packed with the kind of lyrics that can gut-punch you or validate that irrational hatred you have for a coworker. All in all, it’s a strong record, especially for the emo-heads looking for a summer soundtrack.

Decent to strong 7.