Tegan and Sara have spent much of the last few years buried in the past: they released the teenage memoir High School in a 2019, recorded some of their oldest songs for the album Hey, I'm Just Like You that same year, and recent spun off their book into an Amazon TV show and the prequel graphic novel Junior High.
As the Quin sisters return their focus to the present for the new album Crybaby (out October 21 via Mom + Pop Music), we asked them to take one more look at the past in order to rank their five best songs for Exclaim!'s High 5 column.
In picking these songs, Tegan didn't choose her favourites, but rather the duo's "best" — which mostly translates to their most popular songs, as those are the ones that have reached the most people. "Even if they aren't our favourites — they are in a way — the people determined the 'best' songs we have by celebrating and supporting them, and giving us this wonderful career we've been so lucky to have," Tegan explains.
Her choices include the hit that pulled Tegan and Sara back from the brink of a breakup, the TV show that still drives streams nearly two decades later, and the track that has its imprint all over their new album.
"Walking with a Ghost"
So Jealous (2004)
When "Walking with a Ghost" started getting played on alternative radio in the US, we saw our band change before our eyes. All of a sudden, we had sold-out shows, we were selling thousands of albums a week, our Myspace exploded. We got offered a huge US tour opening for the Killers, Rolling Stone listed So Jealous as one of their Top 50 albums of the year and the White Stripes covered "Walking with a Ghost." Overnight we were legit. After nearly seven years of touring, we had finally "made it" — at least in some people's eyes. Including ours.
Sara used to threaten to go back to university regularly. But I think the success of that song and album convinced her we were on the right path. The song itself was the first Sara wrote after moving to Montreal from Vancouver in 2002. I was sure it was the end of Tegan and Sara. But it wasn't! It inspired our next era of T&S, in fact.
We were touring in support of our album If It Was You and were fighting constantly, but then Sara recorded the demo and brought it out on tour on a CD to Europe and played it for me in a hotel room. I was struck by how different it was from what we'd done previously, but also by how original it sounded. I knew then we had found our "next sound."
"Where Does the Good Go"
So Jealous (2004)
When I wrote and recorded this song, I burned it to CD and sent it via Canada Post to Sara in Montreal. She had a huge reaction to it. I was worried it sounded like Céline Dion, I told her later on the phone. I think I meant that I worried it was commercial-sounding. She assured me it was good, and we decided to cut it for our album So Jealous.
When the album came out, we were on tour and our management called to see if we were supportive of a TV show called Grey's Anatomy using it. Placements in shows were not at all considered a cool thing to do if you were indie rock, which we were, but we said yes. When the show exploded in popularity, it became a huge song for us, and it also increased our audience size overnight. To this day it is our top-streamed song every year on Spotify. Last year it was on, like, 800 Grey's Anatomy playlists or something wild.
I think the song is one of our best, though sometimes, I don't know if I know why. I suppose it just struck a nerve with a lot of people. It's just so honest and raw. It is also an earworm. I think it also shows off a quintessential element of "Tegan and Sara" with the super tight harmonies and crisscrossing vocals, which people seem to love.
"Call It Off"
The Con (2007)
I chose "Call It Off" from our fifth album, The Con, but honestly I could have chosen "The Con," "Nineteen," "Back in Your Head" or "Dark Come Soon" from the same album. I think The Con is one of our most complete works, from start to finish. We were very aligned with our vision for that album and had a long time to write it, and we spent a year of our lives demoing and building the songs at home in our studios before we set foot into the real studio. So I think our songwriting on that album is really elevated. It's a fan-favourite album, which is a relief, since it's one of our favourites too.
And "Call It Off" specifically just seems to have staying power. Fans request it, we both enjoy playing it after all these years, and recently Sara has taken to covering it on stage, and so it's taking on a whole new life. We believe a great song is only great if you can strip it down to nothing and still hold a thousand people's attention, or ten thousand, and "Call It Off" has held up under both conditions — stripped down in front of both big and small crowds.
"Closer"
Heartthrob (2013)
I wrote this song very quickly. I did it almost in retaliation to Sara, because she was writing these complex, deep, introspective songs, and no matter how hard I tried to match her songs, it wasn't working. I got little to no reaction from her when I would send new ideas. So I wrote the most basic, straight-ahead pop song to do something totally like I would want to hear, and what I imagined she would not want to hear. I sent her the song an hour after I wrote it, and she emailed me right back and said, "Finish it."
I did seven versions of the song before we hit the studio with producer Greg Kurstin. Warner, our label, and Greg thought it was the single for the album Heartthrob so we went to work on it right away. We spent most of the two months working with Greg tinkering with the song. We needed a stronger chorus — the original chorus was actually what is now the bridge — and it took a long time to land on the right melody and words. It's a true collaboration between Sara and me, in that sense. It was the first time in years, really since high school, that we'd sat in a room hammering out an idea together.
I think we knew right away it was going to be a big song. We worried, of course, that it would alienate fans of the more indie version of us. But we just hoped that people would listen to the deeper meaning of the song and appreciate how catchy it was. Is it one of our "best" songs? I don't know. But it certainly was our biggest hit ever.
"Yellow"
Crybaby (2022)
The second anyone hears "Yellow," they start to smile. You can just feel people get excited when they listen to it. It's obviously a new song, so it's hard to say if it's our "best," because sometimes I think "best" means that it has staying power. Will "Yellow" have staying power? I think it has a really good shot. It's hooky as hell, the lyrics are beautiful and poetic, and the construction of the song and production is near-perfect. I think it's a deeply relatable song, and when you strip it down to the basics and just sit with a guitar and play it, it moves like a classic T&S song. I feel like it has all the parts it needs to become one of our best songs, so I added it here for that reason.
I also think it was part of a batch of songs that really informed the direction of our new album, Crybaby. And so, part of the "Yellow" DNA is in all of the songs on Crybaby. Only a "best song" could have that kind of influence, in my opinion.
As the Quin sisters return their focus to the present for the new album Crybaby (out October 21 via Mom + Pop Music), we asked them to take one more look at the past in order to rank their five best songs for Exclaim!'s High 5 column.
In picking these songs, Tegan didn't choose her favourites, but rather the duo's "best" — which mostly translates to their most popular songs, as those are the ones that have reached the most people. "Even if they aren't our favourites — they are in a way — the people determined the 'best' songs we have by celebrating and supporting them, and giving us this wonderful career we've been so lucky to have," Tegan explains.
Her choices include the hit that pulled Tegan and Sara back from the brink of a breakup, the TV show that still drives streams nearly two decades later, and the track that has its imprint all over their new album.
"Walking with a Ghost"
So Jealous (2004)
When "Walking with a Ghost" started getting played on alternative radio in the US, we saw our band change before our eyes. All of a sudden, we had sold-out shows, we were selling thousands of albums a week, our Myspace exploded. We got offered a huge US tour opening for the Killers, Rolling Stone listed So Jealous as one of their Top 50 albums of the year and the White Stripes covered "Walking with a Ghost." Overnight we were legit. After nearly seven years of touring, we had finally "made it" — at least in some people's eyes. Including ours.
Sara used to threaten to go back to university regularly. But I think the success of that song and album convinced her we were on the right path. The song itself was the first Sara wrote after moving to Montreal from Vancouver in 2002. I was sure it was the end of Tegan and Sara. But it wasn't! It inspired our next era of T&S, in fact.
We were touring in support of our album If It Was You and were fighting constantly, but then Sara recorded the demo and brought it out on tour on a CD to Europe and played it for me in a hotel room. I was struck by how different it was from what we'd done previously, but also by how original it sounded. I knew then we had found our "next sound."
"Where Does the Good Go"
So Jealous (2004)
When I wrote and recorded this song, I burned it to CD and sent it via Canada Post to Sara in Montreal. She had a huge reaction to it. I was worried it sounded like Céline Dion, I told her later on the phone. I think I meant that I worried it was commercial-sounding. She assured me it was good, and we decided to cut it for our album So Jealous.
When the album came out, we were on tour and our management called to see if we were supportive of a TV show called Grey's Anatomy using it. Placements in shows were not at all considered a cool thing to do if you were indie rock, which we were, but we said yes. When the show exploded in popularity, it became a huge song for us, and it also increased our audience size overnight. To this day it is our top-streamed song every year on Spotify. Last year it was on, like, 800 Grey's Anatomy playlists or something wild.
I think the song is one of our best, though sometimes, I don't know if I know why. I suppose it just struck a nerve with a lot of people. It's just so honest and raw. It is also an earworm. I think it also shows off a quintessential element of "Tegan and Sara" with the super tight harmonies and crisscrossing vocals, which people seem to love.
"Call It Off"
The Con (2007)
I chose "Call It Off" from our fifth album, The Con, but honestly I could have chosen "The Con," "Nineteen," "Back in Your Head" or "Dark Come Soon" from the same album. I think The Con is one of our most complete works, from start to finish. We were very aligned with our vision for that album and had a long time to write it, and we spent a year of our lives demoing and building the songs at home in our studios before we set foot into the real studio. So I think our songwriting on that album is really elevated. It's a fan-favourite album, which is a relief, since it's one of our favourites too.
And "Call It Off" specifically just seems to have staying power. Fans request it, we both enjoy playing it after all these years, and recently Sara has taken to covering it on stage, and so it's taking on a whole new life. We believe a great song is only great if you can strip it down to nothing and still hold a thousand people's attention, or ten thousand, and "Call It Off" has held up under both conditions — stripped down in front of both big and small crowds.
"Closer"
Heartthrob (2013)
I wrote this song very quickly. I did it almost in retaliation to Sara, because she was writing these complex, deep, introspective songs, and no matter how hard I tried to match her songs, it wasn't working. I got little to no reaction from her when I would send new ideas. So I wrote the most basic, straight-ahead pop song to do something totally like I would want to hear, and what I imagined she would not want to hear. I sent her the song an hour after I wrote it, and she emailed me right back and said, "Finish it."
I did seven versions of the song before we hit the studio with producer Greg Kurstin. Warner, our label, and Greg thought it was the single for the album Heartthrob so we went to work on it right away. We spent most of the two months working with Greg tinkering with the song. We needed a stronger chorus — the original chorus was actually what is now the bridge — and it took a long time to land on the right melody and words. It's a true collaboration between Sara and me, in that sense. It was the first time in years, really since high school, that we'd sat in a room hammering out an idea together.
I think we knew right away it was going to be a big song. We worried, of course, that it would alienate fans of the more indie version of us. But we just hoped that people would listen to the deeper meaning of the song and appreciate how catchy it was. Is it one of our "best" songs? I don't know. But it certainly was our biggest hit ever.
"Yellow"
Crybaby (2022)
The second anyone hears "Yellow," they start to smile. You can just feel people get excited when they listen to it. It's obviously a new song, so it's hard to say if it's our "best," because sometimes I think "best" means that it has staying power. Will "Yellow" have staying power? I think it has a really good shot. It's hooky as hell, the lyrics are beautiful and poetic, and the construction of the song and production is near-perfect. I think it's a deeply relatable song, and when you strip it down to the basics and just sit with a guitar and play it, it moves like a classic T&S song. I feel like it has all the parts it needs to become one of our best songs, so I added it here for that reason.
I also think it was part of a batch of songs that really informed the direction of our new album, Crybaby. And so, part of the "Yellow" DNA is in all of the songs on Crybaby. Only a "best song" could have that kind of influence, in my opinion.