While many previous analyses of emo argue the genre is best understood through a critical analysis of its politics of gender, this article instead contends that we are better served by highlighting emo’s implicit and explicit commentary on the material conditions of neoliberal capitalism. Through engaging with thinkers such as Lauren Berlant, David Grabear, and Asa Seresin, I show how various emo artists, through both their lyrical and performative particularities, take contradictory approaches to neoliberalism. At times emo artists seem utterly depressed by the neoliberal condition. At others, they seem to fully embrace its desires. I explore how these contradictions become emblematic of the genre’s often confused politics. Building upon the confused nature of emo, I offer close readings of Hot Mulligan's "How Do You Know It's Not Armadillo Shells" and Spanish Love Song's "Routine Pain" to show how emo song's seemingly contradict their own understandings of society and how these contradictions become emblematic of neoliberalism itself. I conclude by pondering how radical the genre can ever be if it is defined by such confusion towards the material and political realities of the present.