In September, Tegan and Sara released a new album, Hey, I’m Just Like You. You can listen to it here:
I found this album’s concept particularly interesting from a positioning/branding perspective. It’s comprised of songs they wrote as teenagers, 20 years ago, and contains song themes that teenage songwriters would write about.
I find this clever as Tegan and Sara need to appeal to a younger generation, and want their musical style to remain in the pop genre. Their previous albums have ranged from a more acoustic, indie style, to a more dance-pop sound. This is closer to the rock-pop genre – a genre that is conveniently appealing to the mainstream pop top 40 lists right now.
It’s also convenient that they don’t have to write and pretend that they’re still teenagers; they have lyrics from their teenage years to build on. Authenticity and pop appeal equals a strong combination for longevity for at least a few more years. Artists need to evolve; Taylor Swift can’t be ‘Nineteen’ forever, and neither can Tegan and Sara. But Tegan and Sara have found a way to release modern music with themes from teenage years and still remain authentic.
It doesn’ t hurt that the album is filled with catchy but not overly poppy songs. Give it a listen!
Mike Henry's blog 