In the five years I've had this album since Christmas 2014, it's one that I tend to appreciate the more I listen to it. When a lead singer of an established band goes solo, it's hard not to expect or compare it to their previous work; this is no different. It definitely has a different sound compared to My Chemical Romance, but as I listened to it more, I began to realize Gerard carried over a lot of elements that were present in "Danger Days". As I said in the retrospective, "Danger Days" featured a My Chemical Romance that were more at peace with who they were, no longer full of anger as when they began. Even solo, Gerard brings some of that upbeat sound. This is why I include "Hesitant Alien" whenever I listen to the MCR albums, as it's another step in Gerard's progression as an artist.
The best way to describe the album is "pop grunge". Some of the songs have a clean poppy sound to them, while others can get a bit dirty or have a mix between the two.
Since I'm devoting a whole post to this album, I'll be a little more in depth with my thoughts on the songs compared to my general album analyses from the MCR retrospective. I'll just start out by saying that I don't particularly care for "The Bureau", "No Shows", "Get the Gang Together", and "How It's Going to Be". My main problem with these songs are there being either a filter over Gerard's vocals or he's drowned out by the music, making it hard to really understand him, and in turn making it hard for me to really connect with. Don't get me wrong though, they each have a good sound and I do sing along with the parts where I can understand the words. Plus, "The Bureau" is a nice introductory track for the album as a whole.
With that out of the way, let's take a look at my favorite songs of the album.
* Drugstore Perfume: This is my absolute favorite song from the album. It's beautifully composed in both the music and the lyrics. Gerard apparently wrote this for his wife (who he's been with since 2007), so it's easy to see this as a love song, talking about two people who've found each other after going through many hardships in their lives: "And as these days go by, they'll never change how long we've waited for a love that's more." It reminds me a lot of "Summertime" from "Danger Days."
* Action Cat and Millions: I group these two together because I feel they share the same message. It's about a relationship, either past and present, wanting it to be ideal but realizing/accepting it's not. Considering how fresh MCR's break-up was, it's easy to think of these songs being Gerard's way of expressing his feelings about it.
"Action Cat" is more of an aftermath song, as there's somewhat a sense of hope, emphasized by the stanzas asking or pleading to reciprocate the feeling of loss ("Said I miss you, say 'I miss you too'"). There's also a sense of bargaining with the lines "don't ask a lot and you won't lose a lot", like they're trying to keep whatever they can of the relationship alive. It's these lines that really connect with me.
"Millions" is my second favorite song of the album thanks to a great beat and the vocalizing from Gerard. "Millions" is going through the relationship and coming to the conclusion that it's over ("I think you're sore, I think I'm done") with a bit of blaming from both sides. There's also the sense of hope like "Action Cat" has, but it's not as prominent. They want to keep things together, but they need "a million reasons" and "a million more" on top of that to do so. It's kind of the opposite message of Lady Gaga's "Million Reasons"; one good one isn't enough.
Also, the music video is weird as hell but enjoyable, like an [adult swim] commercial bumper. I do the head side bobbing thing the group does whenever I listen to the song as well.
* Maya the Psychic: The final track of the album closes it out in a real rock fashion. I kind of see it as a "teenage rebellion" song, with an "us against them"/anti-authority attitude to it.
* Brother: This song is definitely about Gerard's brother Mikey, who was the bassist in MCR. Like "Action Cat" and "Millions", I think "Brother" is also a post band break-up song, as Gerard is looking back at the simpler times the two had and how things were then. It immediately hooks you in with the piano in the intro and there's also an outro to the song with a distorted voice saying "Where's Mikey? Where'd he go?" that gets me every time. In general, I think it's a song about brotherly love and sticking by each other through the hardships, as I tend to think of my own brother when I hear this.
* Zero Zero: Honestly, I'm not sure what the real meaning of this song is, but it really kicks ass. The lyrics "Call me zero" and "I am zero" make me think of my second all-time favorite anime "Code Geass" as the main character Lelouch creates the masked identity of Zero to accomplish his goals.
* Juarez: This is the hardest rocking song on the album and the best example of the grunge influence I noticed. I've also come to realize it reminds me a lot of the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy" with its short runtime and talk about dealing the law.
Overall, it may not be My Chemical Romance, but "Hesitant Alien" shows Gerard Way hasn't lost the music in his heart. If you're a fan but haven't checked out his solo album, I'd say it's worth it, though not all the songs may hit a chord with everyone.
Gerard has yet to follow up on "Hesitant Alien", focusing more on his comics career afterwards, though he did release a number of songs in late 2018 and early 2019. While I'm still waiting/hoping for My Chemical Romance to reunite, I wouldn't mind another solo venture from Gerard at some point as well.
