Judgement Day: Pop Heaven or Hell? Darren Hayes – Stupid Mistake (Music Video)

“Stupid Mistake”, the fourth single from Darren Hayes 2011 album: “Secret Codes and Battleships”, would not have been an obvious single candidate in my opinion. While I do adore the track, I expected the perkier sounding “Don’t Give Up” or the stunning “Cruel Cruel World” would be the more likely choices. That being said, any amount of new Darren singles is a wonderful thing in my opinion and once the news set in I realized that the truly confusing question is why this exquisite body of work has yet to receive any promotion in North America (I can’t even find a hard copy of this album in our record stores here in Eastern Canada. Check out my album review!), but I digress.

On Monday, April 9th, 2012 the video for “Stupid Mistake”, directed by Hayes’ husband Richard under the moniker of Pixelfink, debuted on Hayes’ official YouTube channel. The clip takes and transforms a song that seems at first like an admission and acceptance of guilt in retrospect of a betrayal and reveals that sometimes the deeper betrayal may be an internal one.

Judgement Day: Pop Heaven or Hell? (Darren Hayes / “Secret Codes and Battleships”)

Darren Hayes / “Secret Codes and Battleships”

Released 10-25-2011 on Mercury Records) Buy it on iTunes! Standard Edition / Deluxe Edition

I’ll start this review by saying that while I don’t think I could ever truly say I’m anyone’s “biggest fan”, (Many a “Stan” has made me realize that even my most intense fandom never even comes close. ) if there is one artist that I could easily “Stan” over it would be Darren Hayes.

Image designed by John Gilsenan

Darren Hayes is not-quite a “household name” here in North America. This, quite frankly, is a tragedy and in my personal opinion, one of the biggest things wrong in the North American pop music scene.

Though you may not recognize the name, you DO know his work, even if you don’t think you do. Hayes was responsible for some of the most memorable pop hits of the 1990′s with his musical partner Daniel Jones as part of Australian electro-pop duo Savage Garden.

Still not sure you’re familiar? Click here for a refresher courtesy of YouTube.

It’s been over 10 years since Savage Garden parted ways and Hayes’ went solo. Within that ten years he has released three solid and some (Me) would go so far as to say “Visionary” pop albums. (2001′s “Spin” was followed by the deeply personal and experimental “The Tension & The Spark” in 2003 and and double disc pop masterpiece “This Delicate Thing We`ve Made” in 2007.) Still, every time he releases a new album the media tend to gloss over his solo work to use Savage Garden’s legacy to sell readers on solo material that has evolved far beyond the scope of it’s origin.

"Secret Codes and Battleships" Album Artwork by John Gilsenan

With the release of his fourth solo album, “Secret Codes and Battleships,” Hayes again explores a number of different facets of romantic and interpersonal relationships.  (There’s a range of scenarios from insecurity, communication breakdowns, unrequited love, lost love, death, etc.) While that list certainly seems like a downer, there is plenty of hope on this album, despite the hardship.

I have to admit that I struggled ever-so-momentarily with this album at first. My feelings about it now, three weeks later, are significantly changed – but on my first listen I had difficulty letting go of the Darren Hayes from his last two albums. My resentment about this album being promoted as a “return to form” and compared mainly to the first Savage Garden album, when all of his solo material has been near genius made me realize that I too was unfairly holding him to the standard of his earlier work and perhaps not giving this album a chance. (Also, I was ridiculously addicted to Kelly Clarkson’s latest album /Click here to check out that review/ which is an empowerment/breakup album and I was man-hating and independent-thinking and really just wanted to be listening to that…)

After the epiphany detailed above, “Secret Codes and Battleships” penetrated my icy, I-don’t-need-a-man heart and melted it. Then, I fell in love.

So now I present, my track by track thoughts…