The Wonder Years
The O’My’s feat. Chance the Rapper & Nico Segal
By Natalie Silver
Hooking a song with its chorus is ballsy—and it’s rare in rock, which is what you think “The Wonder Years” will be 10 seconds in. It’s a style that was first popularly used, in rock, by Aerosmith with “Sweet Emotion” in 1975 but still is relatively uncommon, even though The O’My’s pull it off beautifully in their 2012 song.
But this ain’t rock.
“The Wonder Years” opens with a jazzy, swinging rhythm guitar section that reminds of the Black Crows. And then the beat drops and it becomes clear that there is much, much more beneath the surface of this hook—something that will evolve into a complex and experimental synthesis of pure soul, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk and rock.
This is a sweet and nostalgic song about family, loss of innocence and the natural pains of transition that employs the liveliest elements of the genres in the O’My’s repertoire to help plow through the slow and heavy drum section. If the thick bassline represents the gravity of the song’s message, Nico Segal’s trumpet section, the rich falsetto soaring behind lyrical gaps, and Chance The Rapper’s featured verse represent the positivity of the narrator’s outlook on his situation, bringing a poetic zest to the intensity of the song’s bassline and gravely vocals.
This is a smart and provocative collaboration between Chicago’s musical elite, and, as a successful collaboration should, it brings elements of several genres into harmony in a way that makes them now-digestible to atypical listeners.
Lyrically, it’s heavy, but articulated with positivity and resistance; it references roots in family and early childhood mechanisms of protection, and then explores the more grim elements of adulthood through an eloquent and self-made prophecy. It predicates the inevitable hardships of life and longs for a simpler time, but also approaches the future with unflinching fortitude.