Music Review // Fritz Hager "Bad Friend"

The theme of friendship is one that can be debated but on "Bad Friend", Fritz Hager leaves it open for discussion, asking "Was I a bad friend?" rather than taking sides.   Friendship and relationships in life in general are difficult because if they end up going sour you always wonder if you could've done more.   If the other person has some life altering problems then you always wonder how you could've done more to help them.

And though this song doesn't really give specifics about what happened to this friendship, I'm sure we've all got those friendships from our pasts that ended for one reason or another, which leaves us all wondering this.  But friendship is also weird to me, especially when you're younger, because no one tells you how to be a friend and all you can really do is try your best.  But I also feel like, ultimately, at the end of the day we're responsible for ourselves, so if your friend gets drunk and drives off a cliff you likely did all you could to prevent that from happening.

With acoustic sounding guitar strums, "Bad Friend" sounds like Elliott Smith but maybe more so if Elliott Smith was still alive and making new music.  There's something modern about this song, as it has that radio feel to it.  It's not quite like AJR or something on the radio in a similar sense, but it would fit in with them well.   Fritz Hager just seems to have crafted the perfect pop rock ballad with emphasis on the pop.

By the end of the song though the music turns more complex with stretched out vocals, showing that this isn't just going to sound one way but has more depth to it than it seems on the surface.  While this overall feels like a sad song because it's about the loss of a friendship, it has a somewhat upbeat vibe to it which can hopefully bring peace and closure to some people as they wonder if they were a bad friend but can realize we're all just trying our best.