A Good Friend Is Nice; they just keep on rising up

By: Mallory J.

Copyright: Cover of duo Jack and Jack’s debut album, A Good Friend Is Nice

Jack and Jack, a duo made up of Jack Gilinsky and Jack Johnson, released their debut album called A Good Friend Is Nice on January 25, 2019. Originating from the now deceased social platform Vine, Jack and Jack grew up in Omaha, Nebraska together and knew each other since they were very young children. The two had joined a social media influencer tour called MAGCON in 2013, made up of several social media stars including Cameron Dallas, brothers Nash and Hayes Grier, Matthew Espinosa, and Shawn Mendes. In 2014, they made music their main focus, releasing several singles and EPs since 2014.

The debut studio album, A Good Friend Is Nice is a pop-rap album with tropical house influences. The album has a total of 12 tracks, 3 of which were previously released singles. Those who have been following the duo have been long awaiting the moment they would finally get to release an entire album. Now that it’s here, fans have been speculating over lyrics and find themselves listening to songs on repeat for hours at a time.

On this album, the two Jacks focus a lot on relationships and many negative aspects of them. On track 11, “2 Cigarettes”, Gilinsky opens with the line, “Lately I can feel it’s drifting. Both of us been acting different. We used to be so consistent. Is there nothing left to say?” His relationship is falling apart and the two are drifting apart from each other. He hopes that it will get better, but he knows it doesn’t. Later in the same song, Johnson comes in with a rap verse to say, “I’m really trying to let go but I can’t delete the messages. When you said you’d be my girl forever…” Then Gilinsky comes in with the chorus to bring in the title of the song: “I smoke two cigarettes and I don’t even smoke. Now the sun’s coming up and I’m halfway sober.” Gilinsky feels so much pain that he feels he has to turn to things he normally wouldn’t do to feel better. Some songs on this album however, are less about relationships.

My own favorite song, April Gloom, is a song about the two boys trying to make it through hard times even though they feel like the hard times aren’t ever going to go away. It’s a slower, tropical feeling song that is close to my heart. In the chorus, Gilinsky says that, “they keep telling me to wait…I know that all these people fake…I don’t intend to make mistakes. But life just happens, this is fate. I feel so blue when skies are grey. This April gloom is here to stay. Johnson then comes in to mention all the negatives that are happening in his life currently, “Pops almost 60, grey up on his face. Mom’s about to go and get the hip replaced. So I gotta go, so hard even when I feel all alone…Act like you’re happy but you just pretend to be.” He feels that he doesn’t have the time anymore, and that’s making him sad. Many fans tend to favor this song because they say it’s relating to their own personal experiences.

A Good Friend Is Nice is an album that meet many expectations that fans had for them. The duo has been working hard for the last 5 years to release something they’re proud of and something their fans can be proud of. People have shot them down and doubted them because they were popular on Vine and ‘they can’t really sing’; ‘they’re only popular because they’re good looking’. But this album seems to proving all those people wrong. Gilinsky sings “We gonna rise, rise, rise, rise, rise ‘til we fall.” They don’t seem to be falling anytime soon. Until then, they just keep getting bigger and better.