You're all probably so tired of me talking AJR but...
WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE THEM! In music critic's words: "the sounds they use are eargrating" they use I'm Not Famous as an example, so if I'm getting this right... the fact that there are voices slightly SLIGHTLY overlapping and you can barely hear them and it's there for EFFECT... is eargrating. You can't even hear it. YOU CAN'T EVEN HEAR IT. ARE YOU HIGH! WHAT DID YOU STICK GLUE IN YOUR EARS! I HAVE A FEELING YOU WERE JUST LISTENING TO THE SONG TO FIND LIKE ANY FLAW IN IT INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT THE SONG AS A WHOLE. Ok a different song, maybe, but I'm Not Famous? Get better material. Maybe something believable.
You know what it's fine. Up next is that they "try too hard to be quirky" ... *sigh* they're just making music. They're not trying to be quirky, they're just having fun with their music. Lemme ask you something, do you personally know AJR? Yeah didn't think so. So what gives you the right to comment on them in that way. What? Tell me, come on don't be shy. Yeah you got nothing like I expected.
Next de-bunk. They are "Jon-Bellion rip-offs." Ah yes, one of their songs sounds slightly similar to a Jon-Bellion song, they must be rip-offs. Oh they were inspired by this one creator's music. They must be rip-offs. There's a difference between taking inspiration, and ripping something off. They're not trying to be Jon-Bellion, they're trying to be their own band, making their own music, INSPIRED by music like Jon-Bellion and whatever else. That's like saying I ripped off Marshmello because I used a similar sounding instrument ONE INSTRUMENT he used in ONE of his songs, ONE. Like come on people. Get lives already. Not to mention, they're saying AJR ripped Jon Bellion off, AJR was formed in 2005, Jon Bellion started in 2011.
NEXT! Oh is that it? Great, wonderful. They're hating on AJR because they want controlled music they can manipulate their own input into. Music that isn't out there. Music that isn't vulnerable or experimentational. But they know deep down that AJR isn't bad or eargrating or ripping anyone off. Sure they have their flaws and their issues, but you have to admit the pros outweigh the cons by a landslide. I'd understand if you said "oh I don't like that kind of music" or "It's just not for me" but going so far as to say "I hate them and you should too" and telling lies saying things that aren't true just to shut down a band for being creative, it's just wrong. I like AJR and you don't have to like AJR if you don't like AJR, but disrespecting them and pushing away the good sides to their music only focusing on the bad to manipulate other people into believing every word you say. That's a one way ticket to hell my friend. Even the AJR fandom consisting of around 1.6 million people is less toxic than one music critic.