Folie à Deux, French for “the shared madness of two,” is a rare psychiatric phenomenon where symptoms of a psychotic disorder are seemingly “transferred” between two people. Additionally, it is the name of Fall Out Boy’s controversial 2008 album.
“Folie à Deux” was initially met with a critical reception. One reporter at BBC stated, “Emo teens with eyeliner (and that’s just the boys) all over the globe will be wetting their skin-tight black jeans after just one spin of ‘Folie à Deux.’” Slant Magazine offered, “[‘Folie à Deux is’] an album that preens and fidgets like a neglected child.”
On the topic of the reception of “Folie à Deux,” singer Patrick Stump wrote, “At no other point in my professional career was I nearly booed off stages for playing new songs. Touring on Folie was like being the last act at the Vaudville [sic] show.”
“Folie à Deux” is a favorite among fans, including myself, leaving many to wonder what made the album so polarizing at the time of its release. Many critics hated it for straying from the pop-punk direction of previous Fall Out Boy albums, as many enjoyed their music solely for its adherence to what was popular in the alternative music scene in 2008. People also disliked it for its influence from and features of black artists, although they may not have stated it outright. Bassist and songwriter Pete Wentz is a biracial man who faced a lot of backlash at this time for not being “white enough,” as the alternative genre was (and still is) dominated by white men.
“Folie à Deux” opens with the track “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes,” which pokes fun at the expectations put on Fall Out Boy as an artist, as so-called “perfect boys with their perfect lives,” being told, “nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy.” It is then followed by the lead single, “I Don’t Care.” Called a “narcissist’s anthem” by Wentz, it offers a much more sarcastic view of critics: “I don’t care what you think as long as it’s about me.” “America’s Suitehearts” is a commentary on fame and its downsides, with the chorus stating, “I must confess, I’m in love with my own sins.”
It is extremely difficult to pick a favorite from this album, but I would say mine is “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet.” It’s beautiful lyrically, despite its thematic focus on infidelity. The chorus echoes, “Does your husband know the way the sunshine gleams from your wedding band,” before stating, “I will never end up like him, behind my back I already am.” The second-to-last chorus offers, “Does he know the way I worship our love?”
“(Coffee’s For Closers)” criticizes the culture of fame and the effect it can have on people. On Fall Out Boy’s “Believers Never Die” tour, Wentz explained, “I think a lot of people don’t take the right meaning away from this song, it’s not ‘I will never believe in anything again’ – It’s about cameras… Change is okay if it’s real change. We need to change in places like Sri Lanka, and Burma, and northern Uganda and the Congo. We need cameras there instead of cameras following around fake a** people in Los Angeles, myself being one of them.”
“27” references the 27 Club, an urban legend that claims musicians and other celebrities are more likely to die at the age of 27. It was popularized by the suicide of Kurt Cobain in 1994. Wentz was terrified that he would fall victim to this same curse, especially due to drug use and a previous suicide attempt at the age of 25. Patrick Stump states, “There was a countdown clock and everything. I remember our manager called me up on Pete’s 28th birthday and screamed, ‘We made it!’”
“20 Dollar Nose Bleed” refers to the drug Benzedrine, one of the first amphetamines used for medical purposes, which often caused nosebleeds. The song also offers commentary on George W. Bush’s attacks on Iraq, with the lyrics, “Goes to the desert, the same war his dad rehearsed, came back with flags on coffins and said, ‘We won, oh, we won!’” The song ends with a scream that leads into the last (official) song on the album, “West Coast Smoker.” This is one of my favorites on the album, closing it off in a “particularly aggressive fashion,” with Wentz noting his own mental instability and use of substances to cope with it.
Originally released exclusively on the deluxe edition of “Folie à Deux” on CD, ‘Pavlove” is one of my favorite songs of all time. The title combines the conditioning experiments of physiologist Ivan Pavlov with the concept of love, showcasing the concept of being conditioned, or convinced, into loving someone. The chorus offers a haunting statement: “I want to make you as lonely as me so you can get addicted to this.”
“Folie à Deux” is a beautiful album and something I think anyone interested in Alternative Rock needs to listen to. The album immerses you in its world, even forcing you to look at your own reflection to read the track list on the back, leaving you to wonder if the “shared madness of two” was between you and yourself all along.
