Switchfoot’s "More Than Fine" Album

As a teenager, my dad often joked that I should be a Christian music critic because I constantly picked apart contemporary Christian songs. Years later, after much faith deconstruction and reconstruction, I’ve decided to finally embrace that role. So, here’s my long-awaited critique of Switchfoot’s 22 year old album The Beautiful Letdown.

I was nine when this album came out, and it was a staple throughout my adolescence. I recently started listening to the album again for nostalgia’s sake and I’ve got some thoughts I want to share.

The Album’s Strengths

For an early 2000s Christian rock album, The Beautiful Letdown isn’t bad (revealing my strong opinion that much Christian music isn’t great).

If I were to rate it, I’d say it’s “more than fine.” See what I did there?

The song More Than Fine is catchy and encourages us to embrace the ordinaryness of life with purpose and intention.

The album’s overarching message is mostly solid, emphasizing deeper living, not dwelling in the past or future, and discovery of inner strength.

Songs like Meant to Live and This Is Your Life invite us to engage more fully in life:

“We were meant to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?”

Dare You To Move has a similar message. The best part of that song and perhaps the  whole album is the bridge where the lyrics are inviting us to make meaning out of the rock bottoms that we may face in this life:

Maybe redemption has stories to tell. Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself?Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here

Salvation is found where you fell. A good message about finding redemption and new life even in the pits of brokenness.

My Issues with the Album

Yet, Meant to Live, after making this point that our lives are meant for deep and meaningful life, takes an odd turn:

“We want more than this world’s got to offer… everything inside screams for second life.”

This shift from embracing life fully to longing for an afterlife when things will finally be good feels like Christian escapism, reinforcing problematic eschatology that prioritizes heaven over the here and now.

I’m sure it’s a cardinal sin in art criticism to tell the artist what they should have done. But, the song would have been so much better if the lyrics said “and everything inside, screams for deeper life.” The focus becomes so much on a dissatisfaction with this place, this existence. I just don’t think that’s the point of faith or spirituality.

I think this leaves a bad taste in my mouth and influences the way I listen to the rest of the album.

I begin to notice that the theme of radical individualism permeates the album, culminating in Ammunition, a song I skip every time. It suggests systemic sin doesn’t exist:

“Blame it on what you've been through / Blame it on what you're into / Blame it on your religions / Blame it on politicians… We’re the issue, it’s our condition.”

This echoes evangelicalism’s overemphasis on personal sin while ignoring original blessing and systemic injustice-going further and implying that systemic sin is just a cop-out for one’s suffering.

While personal accountability matters, denying systemic evil contradicts the idea of redemption. For those harmed by institutions, this message is not just unhelpful—it’s harmful.

While I am a strong believer in self-growth and personal meaning making, it’s harmful to say to the abused, oppressed, marginalized “you’re the issue.” The powers and principalities cannot be ignored by people concerned with brokenness or sin in our world.

Final Verdict

Despite these flaws, there’s much to appreciate. I Dare You to Move and Gone promote resilience, while On Fire explores a deep longing for connection with the sacred. Still, the album leans too heavily on a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality.

So, is The Beautiful Letdown a masterpiece? No. But it’s also not bad. It’s “more than just okay.”