Tegans latest substack post was titled “Out of touch cringe ladies” that basically dissected negative fan comments of their new song Our Year. She goes through the post talking about how they are human and they do see the negative stuff, she took comments and even named some fan usernames of said comments. She ended with saying that the post was mostly a joke, but I guess her post rubbed me the wrong way not too dissimilar to how negatively fans have reacted to their recent music has clearly rubbed them the wrong way. I know that a very small percentage of people will see their substack, but why on earth would you want to do a thing like this in the first place. She mentions several time that it’s a joke… clearly it’s not. Clearly they’re pissed that fans don’t like certain directions they’ve made in the last few years (which they have every right to do whatever the fuck they want). But I just couldn’t imagine an artist like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande or any artist of substance blasting fans because they don’t like your new song, and doing it under a paywall nonetheless. While trying to seem like they aren’t out of touch cringe ladies, made themselves look even more like out of touch cringe ladies. It’s a real shame

(P.S. Tegan if you see this please don’t shout me out in an upcoming post on your substack. I’m stressed enough these days)

Just wanted to let everyone know, but particularly podcast listeners, the podcast Big in Canada just released 2 episodes deep diving into Tegan and Sara's history and discussing how they are/aren't "Canadian content". Thought it was an enjoyable listen.
I just discovered this podcast through Instagram and thought I'd share. Going to be listening to some more episodes as it all seems interesting especially to those of us who grew up in Canada during the Muchmusic era. They have episodes on Our Lady Peace, Fefe Dobson, Wave, McMaster and James, boy bands, etc.

Big in Canada.

So a couple years ago I was staying over at a friend’s house and his parents had a bunch of reruns of Tosh.0 playing on the TV. He starts talking about T&S and knowing his sense of humor (I don’t watch it but I’ve been in places where it was playing in the bg before) I was terrified he was gonna make fun of them or make some kind of homophobic joke…

…but INSTEAD he played a snippet from “Nineteen”
and followed it up with something along the lines of “Somehow these lesbian twin sisters are able to capture every emotion I’ve ever felt.” And I just remember sitting there thinking…yeah. You’re damn right.

I thought about this again the other day and went to YouTube to see if I could find that clip anywhere but haven’t had any luck. I can’t even remember what season or episode it’s from, like I said I don’t watch it so I don’t keep track of that stuff. Any diehards in here who might know where to find it?

I’m sorry it’s kind of sending me how much behind the scenes/dissection content for Our Year we are getting when there is zero substance to the song or video 😭 now there’s a whole article on it on their substack … I’m just so confused

tegan and sara love winter because winter means hockey

I’ve been listening to them lately and keep thinking about how much their stuff reminds me of Tegan and Sara around the Sainthood era and earlier. There’s something about the guitars, the vocals and those ridiculously catchy melodies that really scratches the same itch for me.

“New at Drugs” is probably the song where I hear it most:

https://open.spotify.com/track/75R9BlwMLoMHRH0m5DiGxV

Anyway, maybe everyone here already knows them and I’m just ridiculously late to the party 😂 But if you haven’t heard them, give “New at Drugs” a listen.

Tell me I’m not crazy about the T&S connection! 😄

I’ve made my peace with that.

But god, do they not owe themselves some integrity? AI use (Dream Dump logo, Sara getting “feedback”, fuck knows what else), empty lyrics, cash grab after cash grab.

I have so many thoughts but no desire to waste my energy. I’ll be cancelling my Substack subscription and pretending they retired after Sainthood (to be fair, I’ve done this for years. “I heard Tegan and Sara on the radio!!” .. that’s not my Tegan and Sara, that’s not who made me who I am, that’s someone else).

Tegan talks about wanting to create work that makes people feel things. All I feel is frustration, disappointment and embarrassment. But I guess they are feelings?

In response to the latest single coming out, there's been a lot of discussion about how their music has gotten so very childish in the last decade, and a lot of questioning why - who is their target audience?

I was thinking about it last night, and I came up with a theory - "Everything is Awesome" got them a ton of attention. Everyone suddenly knew that song, and they reached tons of new people, especially kids and parents.

That song came out in 2014, after Heartthrob.

We already saw then when Love You to Death came out, the video for 100x was very cutesy and kid-friendly, which was kind of a change for their videos which had previously been quite artistic and even a bit abstract. But by and large, the songs for that album would've mostly been written by the time they found out how successful Everything is Awesome was, considering they got it recorded, produced, mastered, printed and released about a year and a half after the success of Everything is Awesome was winding down.

So my theory is that they dropped that album, as it was mostly already written, and then immediately shifted towards making music that Millennial parents would listen to with their kids. Most of us here are probably not in that demographic, and we loved the earlier indie stuff, but I'd say they do still have a captive audience in that demo - and that demo might not have been listening to this group before then.

Teens aren't going out to listen to Tegan and Sara, but I can totally see Millennial parents bopping out with their kids, because it's cutesy and accessible for children, but still grown up enough to listen to as adults. Doesn't mean I'm into it - I'm kinda tapped out at this point and probably won't even bother listening to this next album, because I wasn't even able to listen to that single a second time, it was soooo bad imo. But I guess there is an audience for this stuff.

It's just a theory, of course. I'm not saying I'm right! ;) But just wanted to put it out there to open up discussion!

I hear the twins are going to be opening for Hillary Duff next November!

46 years young! does that make them bee keeping age? just kidding sorry

A little bit of self-promotion: I’m the executive producer and scriptwriter for a new podcast by this title ^^^. It’s a documentary-style deep dive into the cultural and technological shifts that pushed indie rock into the mainstream in the 2000s. So if you found your favorite bands on The OC(or were mad that show was playing your favorite bands), this podcast is for you.

We interviewed Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie, James Mercer of The Shins, Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, Carl Newman of The New Pornographers, Emily Haines of Metric, Britt Daniel of Spoon, Feist, Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, Dann Gallucci formerly of Modest Mouse, founding member of Arcade Fire Will Butler, Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service, Chad Clark of Beauty Pill, and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists who had a quote so memorable we had to start the trailer with it. There are also tons of people from the musing industry - indie labels, Apple Music, the creator of The OC, and too many more to name.

You can hear a much longer 2+ minute trailer anywhere you get podcasts. The first episode drops on September 23.

I would love to answer any questions you have about it!

Okay hear me out. I was an obsessional T&S fan as a 13 year old lesbian with a Tumblr account (this was, Jesus, 17 years ago). I knew way too much about them and saw them live like 5 times in one year. After I broke up with my high school girlfriend (in between Sainthood and Heartthrob), I stopped listening for a while. They were a shared special interest of ours (we met through my tumblr fan account of all things) and I guess it hurt too much? Then, after wounds healed, I listened to all of their back discography semi-regularly. Still loved their music, but I didn’t listen to new stuff because I’m kind of weird about protecting music that is important and nostalgic to me - I get worried about ruining it? I don’t know, I just have to be in the right headspace.

Now at my big old age of 30, I decided to pop on their most recent album because why the heck not? I’m a parent now, I’m feeling like I want to get super interested in the things kid me got excited about. Holy heck yall, when I say I bopped, I BOPPED. Every last song, banger. Played it for my spouse and they agreed. Came to the internet to see other people obviously agreeing with me only to find the opposite. I recognise it’s different from everything else, but man I really enjoyed it! I’ve been flogging it all week on my commutes.

All that being said - I haven’t listened to anything in between Sainthood and Crybaby (except for Closer because that was obviously everywhere). What’s the best post-Sainthood album? What should I be most excited for? For context, my top two T&S albums will always and forever be So Jealous and IIWY.