Wendy's Releases a Six-Track Emo Album About Sitting in Its Parking Lot

Wendy's released "Songs to Listen to in a Wendy's Parking Lot," a six-track emo album built entirely around the oddly universal experience of sitting in your car after a drive-thru order, engine off, not quite ready to drive home. The project pulls in musicians with real pop-punk and emo pedigree, including members of Anberlin, Silverstein, State Champs, Memphis May Fire, Blessthefall, Winona Fighter, and Holy Wars, with multi-platinum producer Matt Squire running the sessions.

The tracklist commits to the bit rather than winking at it: "She Said She Didn't Want Fries," "Salt in the Wound," "I Miss the Sunroom," "The Best Combo Meal on the Worst Night of My Life," "It's Not a Phase, It's a 10PC," and "My Frosty's Funeral." Squire framed the whole thing as a straight-faced tribute to a genre built on small moments treated like the end of the world: "Emo has always been about the small moments that feel huge," he said. "Enjoying a Wendy's Frosty in a parking lot might sound like a small moment, but everybody's had a night where that was the only thing that went right."

It is streaming now on Spotify and other major platforms, which means Wendy's spent real studio time and real working musicians on a bit that could have stayed a tweet. That commitment is the whole joke, and also the whole strategy: a fast food chain betting that leaning all the way into a niche, slightly unhinged idea earns more attention than another straightforward value-menu spot.

Source: Wendy's (company blog)

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →