Houston-based pop rock band Waterparks has released “PROWLER,” the fourth single from its upcoming sixth album on April 17. The full album, “JINX,” is set to be released on July 24.
Lead vocalist and frontman Awsten Knight has openly talked about his mental health, including being in a band that quickly grew its fanbase online, and being in the music industry in general has affected his mental health.
“I wrote ‘PROWLER’ at a time I felt the most isolated last year. I really hate change, and for the first time since anyone knew who Waterparks was, we separated from (almost) all of our old team and our record label,” said Knight in an interview with Alternative Press. “It felt like losing almost everyone I knew, even tangential friends, while also feeling like career-wise the floor was falling out from under me,” said Knight.
Looking deeper in the lyrics behind “PROWLER,” the lyrics reflect Knight’s story of isolation, sudden change and pressure to keep pushing forward as an artist like nothing happened.
The first verse of the song starts with the lyrics: “I lost every father figure that I had in LA this year/I tried to rewind, but life is unkind to the sincere, so f*ck it up/Like I’m Princess Diana, they don’t understand you.”
The first line directly touches on Waterparks’ separation from its old team and record label. The last line in this stanza mentions Diana, Princess of Wales who died in 1997 in a car crash while her driver was fleeing paparazzi. This line is Knight expressing the stress he’s put under as an artist under the public eye, and him talking about not feeling like he’ll be understood and not treated as a normal person because he’s in the public eye.
The pre-chorus follows with the lyrics “I’m not the one, one to follow/They left me hollow,” which ties into the first two lines of the chorus, “I’m a singer, not a savior/Better learn that now than later.”
These lines directly tie into each other and raise awareness on how Knight wants to be seen. He doesn’t want to be put on a pedestal, he wants to be seen as a regular person with a job just like everyone else.
The following lines in the chorus “Have you read the paper?/Caught the headline/Saw they played you,” reference an integral part in the band’s fictional storyline as well as real life experiences.
Last November through this March, Waterparks embarked on “The Prowler Tour” across North America and Europe. Throughout the tour, fans were given the chance to buy a fictional newspaper titled “The Parx Times” which was also posted on the band’s social media that references inside jokes within the Waterparks fandom.
An obituary for Knight’s character “SOULSUCKER” from the lore behind the previous album “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY” was published in the Houston Chronicle in 2024 following the cancellation of the album “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 2: LOST IN THE PROPERTY,” which this also references. These lines also reference the very real reality of stress put on artists while interacting with the press in some cases.
Going onto the second verse, the lines in this verse include: “People say that pressure makes a diamond/But at this rate I’ll be crushed before I’m shining/I navigate this sh*t with both my eyes closed/Lost my team, my friends, it’s way too much to handle.” This ties the song directly back to Knight’s isolation following Waterparks separating from the band’s former record label and team.
The diamond metaphor is usually told to uplift those experiencing stress, with the implication that the band will come out of their situation stronger after being under pressure.
Towards the end of the second repetition of the chorus, we hear a deep disembodied voice that says “Bro, get in the f*cking Prowler,” that follows into the bridge with the lines “Everyone’s gonna love you/Just go out there and do what you do/We’re gonna take care of everything/Don’t even worry about it/Trust in the universe/You will be loved, loved/Just trust me.”
This once again reinforces the themes of pressure and immense stress with an interesting technique that’s seen throughout Waterparks discography, another voice usually addressing Knight in the second person. This voice is telling Knight to not put so much pressure on himself,
Finally the chorus repeats itself again, reminding the listener that Knight is “a singer, not a savior.”
‘PROWLER’ is an emotional rollercoaster showcasing anger, panic, despair, and offers a commentary on stan culture and what it’s like to be a musician in the public eye through an energetic sound and catastrophically beautiful lyrics.
