Good Charlotte - Motel du Cap

by Zena Grieg

published: 7 / 9 / 2025

Label: Atlantic
Format: CD

First album in seven years from Maryland pop-punk band Good Charlotte which is a return to a familiar sound

Review

Seven years after their last album, ‘Generation Rx’, Maryland pop-punk band Good Charlotte have brought out a new record, 'Motel Du Cap'. Inspired by a private gig they played for a friend’s wedding in 2022 at the renowned Hotel Du Cap- Eden-Roc, ‘Motel Du Cap’, their eighth album, is a colourful mix of pop ballads interlaced with cross-genre traversing songs. Lead singer Benji Madden called it their ‘most cohesive body of work… We’ve found a way back to those kids who made The Young And The Hopeless and to integrate those kids with the grown men we are today”. We found A way that they can help and teach each other”. Songs to listen out for in this thirteen-track collection include: lead single ‘Rejects’; the catchy ‘Stepper’; laid-back, hip-hop ‘Life Is Great’ with a cameo by Wiz Khalifa; nostalgic, country-tinged ‘Deserve You’ with a guest appearance by Maryland singer Luke Borchelt; gritty ‘Mean’ with its pop-punk energy; ‘Bodies’ with its insinuating, pulsating synth-rock; and 'Vertigo’ with its whirling instrumentation, a collaboration with rapper Petti Hendrix. Coming out thirty years after the group formed, ‘Motel Du Cap’ is an easy listen, evoking the sound the band was originally known for, infused by a more experienced and accepting world outlook.

Track Listing:-

1 Check In At Motel Du Cap
2 Rejects
3 Stepper
4 I Don’t Work Here Anymore
5 Life Is Great
6 Pink Guitar
7 Deserve You
8 Mean
9 Bodies
10 Vertigo
11 The Dress Rehearsal
12 Castle In The Sand
13 GC Forever