Beastie Boys were a huge part of my transition from teenager into adulthood. An album for every stage of their growth musically matched the many chapters of my own personal development. Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D were like cherished friends for my earholes. The world mourned together when we lost Adam Yauch to cancer in 2012 and were heartbroken knowing that an era had come to an end. It has been 14 years since the trio made music together and the remaining members have been euphonically silent until now. Mike D recently announced his solo album titled Thank You on Capitol Records released on 8/28/26.
“Switch Up” is the first song on the album. I struggled to vibe with this track. It was too chaotic for me just to sit and listen to it. So I decided to listen while working out and that worked out a bit better for me. I was still eager to move on throughout the rest of the LP.
“True Colors” was probably my favorite one on the LP to work up a sweat. It had a nice steady beat that was easy to keep pace with my run. This song probably contained the most Beastie Boys-esque elements that I was expecting.
“Secrets Pt. I” starts out strong with a beat that would put a smile on Brittany Spears’ face. “Got secrets, but I’m happy. Might cry, might laugh” would randomly pop into my head for the next few days. “Secrets Pt. 2” has a completely different sound that is nowhere cohesive to “Pt. 1.” It feels like the lyrics try really hard to be deep, but come across as elementary.
The LP ends with its namesake. “Thank You” starts out as a slower, more acoustic ballad style song. Then an open mic poetry like reading of lyrics takes over with a chiller vibe than we started. I was thankful to reach the end of this album.
I know that it got a lot of acclaim, but Thank You was not the album for me. This isn’t saying that it was a bad or poorly thought out piece of art. It simply just didn’t excite me the way that I had hoped that it would. I was hoping for more hip hop and I got electronic house music with low lyrical substance. By all means, though. Please check it out and form your own decisions.
