Soul Punk = eargasm

After announcing their indefinite hiatus, the members of Fall Out Boy took on separate music projects: Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley started The Damned Things and Pete Wentz started Black Cards. Only Patrick Stump went solo, a decision that I was anxious about (what if he makes terrible music?!) until I heard his debut album.

Soul Punk, released on October 2011, is an almost entirely solo effort by Stump. The eleven-track album—sixteen-track for the deluxe edition—only has one song, This City, that features a guest artist, Lupe Fiasco. The rest of the tracks were exclusively written and produced by Stump, who also played all the instruments. Soul Punk is a testament to how un-frickin-believably talented he is.

He really was holding the boxes!

It's also a testament to how dedicated he is to music. In an interview on The Horn (where I found out that he and the rest of FOB still talks to each other and watches each other's gigs :"> ), when asked what motivated him to do everything by himself, Stump said,

"I wanted to play all the instruments because it means so much more. Punk rock means something different to everybody. It always comes down to some sort of DIY ethic, some sort of operating outside of the machine [...] I wanted to prove that an artist can care about pop music, that it’s not pop-music’s fault for bad pop-music. Doing it by myself was a strong statement because then it meant I had something vested in it."

The album's catchy R&B-pop beats combined with Stump's signature silky-smooth vocals make for a seriously eargasmic experience. I swear, I got a little weak-kneed from listening to this. So far, my personal favorites are Allie, This City, Everybody Wants Somebody, and Run Dry (X Heart X Fingers).
His voice is still amazing even when performing live! Pure talent.

Personally, it annoys me so much when people compare this album to FOB's. They are totally different genres, and Patrick's incredibly brave to step out of his comfort zone and explore different styles. Soul Punk is a labor of love and an expression of him—purely him, no one else—as an artist, and I love him even more for that. Great, now I'm getting a little teary-eyed.

Since this post has been really coherent so far, let me add this incoherent fangirl babble:
oh my god Patrick Stump Patrick Stump unffff you sexy beast you crazy talented person you you adorable cutie patootie kitty pie I love you I love you whether you're chubby or skinny or blonde or a redhead I love your music so much your voice is amazing let's run away together hngggg!!111!!!1


Images taken from: http://nervousbreakdance.com/post/10139685098/soulpunk