Wendy's has released a genuine emo record. Songs to Listen to in a Wendy's Parking Lot, a six-song EP, arrived on September 23 across Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, following a teaser earlier in the week in which the chain's mascot got a side-swept-bangs, black-eyeliner makeover.
This isn't a jingle collection. The fast-food brand hired multi-platinum producer Matt Squire (Panic! at the Disco, All Time Low, Simple Plan, Sum 41, 3OH!3) as executive producer and recruited recognizable vocalists from the emo, pop-punk and metalcore scenes. Streaming credits list the project as a collaboration with Oregon-based label Rise Records.
The tracklist
Song | Featured vocalist |
|---|---|
She Said She Didn't Want Fries (She Lied) | Matty Mullins (Memphis May Fire, Anberlin) |
Salt in the Wound | Chloe Kinnon (Winona Fighter) |
I Miss the Sunroom | Shane Told (Silverstein) |
The Best Combo Meal on the Worst Night of My Life | Beau Bokan (blessthefall) |
It's Not a Phase, It's a 10PC | Derek DiScanio (State Champs) |
My Frosty's Funeral | Kat Leon (Holy Wars) |
"Real musicians, not AI"
The most pointed line in Wendy's announcement wasn't about burgers. The company said it partnered with respected artists from across the emo community to produce a soundtrack "made by real musicians, not generated by AI." Wendy's framed the release around fans who have long used its parking lots as a backdrop for emotional moments, and cited emo and pop-punk's cultural resurgence as the reason for the genre choice. Squire, for his part, said the genre's appeal spans a new generation discovering it and older fans who never stopped listening.
The scene has leaned into the joke. Metalcore band Motionless in White commented on Wendy's Instagram post that they'd been hoping for album of the year but couldn't compete, while fans flooded the comments with food-themed rewrites of classic emo lyrics.
It's also not Wendy's first flirtation with the scene. As Consequence points out, the brand's social team roasted several heavy-music bands and labels on National Roast Day in 2019 — including Memphis May Fire and State Champs, two of the acts now featured on the EP.
Why it matters for the MI industry
Brands as record labels. A national QSR chain funding a produced, label-partnered release with working touring vocalists is a new-ish paid channel for scene musicians and producers — and a template other consumer brands may copy.
"Human-made" as a selling point. Wendy's explicitly marketed the absence of AI. As generative music tools spread, "real players, real production" is becoming a brand-safety and authenticity claim in its own right.
Guitar-forward genres keep getting mainstream airtime. When a mass-market brand bets that a distorted-guitar, pop-punk sound resonates with its audience, that's another data point on the genre's staying power with the millennial and Gen Z buyers MI brands court.
Sources: Loudwire, Wendy's, VICE, Consequence, The Spokesman-Review, Rolling Out