Jimmy Eat World is Reaping New Rewards

Rewards. Immediately the idea seems positive, right? But it can be a mixed bag. What if the reward comes for a poor practice or habit? What does it reinforce then? In other ways, though, a reward can be wonderful. Hard work can pay off and that’s almost always a good thing—right?

For Jim Adkins, frontman and principal songwriter for the acclaimed rock group Jimmy Eat World, the concept of a reward has been both life-changing and at times fraught. When his band rose to immense popularity in the early 2000s with their song, “The Middle,” they reaped the rewards. Heck, the song itself was even about the thought: Just try your best, Try everything you can… It just takes some time… Everything, everything’ll be just fine. Those are the lines Adkins sings, the lines that helped propel his Mesa, Arizona-born group, which was started in high school amongst friends, to world fame. Rewards. But life is hard, curious, and rife with unknown futures. Sometimes the rewards can rain down and hit strangely. Since its early days, though, the band has worked through its ups and downs (like any group, really) and these days they have a new single out, “Something Loud,” that fans crave.