Arkells and Tegan and Sara Share Origins of New Collaboration “Teenage Tears”: Exclusive
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The post Arkells and Tegan and Sara Share Origins of New Collaboration “Teenage Tears”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Origins is our recurring feature series that provides artists with a space to share the origins of their latest release. Today, Arkells and Tegan Quin take us through everything that went into the new Tegan and Sara collaboration “Teenage Tears,” from Arkells’ upcoming album Blink Twice.
Canadian rock act Arkells return today (September 1st) with “Teenage Tears,” the latest single from their upcoming album Blink Twice (out September 23rd). The track, which sees the band connecting with Tegan and Sara for a dramatic tune that revels in the intensity of adolescent emotions, arrives alongside a video; get an exclusive first look below.
“There’s a particular kind of intense emotional pain that reminds me of high school,” vocalist Max Kerman tells Consequence. “This song is about how occasionally you can still feel that kind of sadness as an adult. We were trying to do something that might feel somewhere between Olivia Rodrigo and The National or Bon Iver.”
Indeed, with vocal harmonies that sound at home on a Justin Vernon project and an earnest embrace of teenage melodrama à la “drivers license,” Arkells have somehow successfully crossed i,i and SOUR. Throw in contributions from the legendary Tegan and Sara and you have a recipe for a robust, unabashed song complete with sparse piano and swirling synths.
However, Tegan and Sara, who Kerman describes as a longtime influence, were almost absent from the track. “Collaborating is something we love to do. But these days our schedules are chaotic, and so when Max reached out about collaborating on a song, I prepared him for a ‘no,'” Tegan Quin tells Consequence. Luckily, the raw emotionality of “Teenage Tears” encouraged the duo to find the time, and it all worked out. “Sara and I were won over after we heard it,” Quin adds.
The song is all the better for it, as Tegan and Sara help craft a particularly somber tone that distinguishes itself from Blink Twice’s previous singles. It’s definitely one for the feels, emotionally thrusting listeners back into their high school bedroom.
Watch the mall-themed video for Arkells’ “Teenage Tears” below, followed by the Origins of the track and visual as explained by Max Kerman and Tegan Quin. Arkells are also on an international tour, for which you grab find tickets via Ticketmaster.
High School:
Max Kerman: There’s a particular kind of intense emotional pain that reminds me of high school. It’s not worn down, chronic kind of pain. It’s a sharp and confusing sad. This song is about how occasionally you can still feel that kind of sadness as an adult. We were trying to do something that might feel somewhere between Olivia Rodrigo and The National or Bon Iver.
Remote Collaboration:
Kerman: We normally have a tendency to build things up in grandiose, rock-n-soul kind of ways, but on this one we wanted to keep the production dramatic but subtle and sparse. Our producer Derek Hoffman helped shape the sounds, and our keyboardist Tony pushed it into a darker territory with the pulsing synths. Our guitarist Mike came up with a beautiful acoustic arrangement. We sat with the tune for a few months during the pandemic, and part of the finished product has to do with the simple fact we couldn’t all be together. We were just sending tracks around via email.
Tegan Quin: We agreed to go cut some vocals in December of last year when [Sara and I] were both in Vancouver and had some time off. Sometimes collaborations can feel odd; singing someone else’s words can feel like karaoke if you’re not careful. But from the first moments in the studio, it was like we had written it; a testament to the song’s truth. It fits our own narrative just right.
Tegan and Sara:
Arkells ft. Tegan and Sara’s “Teenage Tears” video (via YouTube)
Kerman: On our forthcoming album Blink Twice, we wanted to include more voices on the record and we’re lucky enough to have a roster of pals who also happen to be our favorite musicians. Tegan and Sara have long been an inspiration for us. They’ve made themselves the most formidable career by taking bold artistic chances. A few years ago, I saw them tour their memoir called High School, about their upbringing in Calgary and discovering their sexuality and music as teenagers in the ’90s. It was part concert, part theater, part book-reading. And it was perfect. They’re now turning that book into a TV show, and it comes out this fall.
…I forgot literally all of those facts when I emailed Tegan to see if she and Sara would be interested in singing on our song “Teenage Tears.” It was a shot in the dark, but they got right back to me and a few emails later said they agreed to be part of the tune. I later realized that the thematic synergy between a song called “Teenage Tears” and their memoir/new show was a natural fit. Stupid me.
Quin: The song felt melancholy and sweet and nostalgic in all the ways we love, and Sara and I were won over after we heard it. We’ve been neck-deep in projects related to our own adolescence the last few years, and so the song really hit.
’90s Malls:
Kerman: Once the song was done, I asked Tegan if she had any thoughts about a music video. Two hours later, she emailed me right back with a full treatment. She wanted to find an empty mall that felt like the ’90s, and we’d find each other in the chorus and lament our personal sadness and failures. They work harder than anyone. This is who they are. They know what they want but they love collaborating. They’re so funny, smart and kind and we learned so much just being in their orbit.
Tegan and Sara are based in Vancouver and have worked on a number of new music videos with our longtime director and collaborator Mark Myers for their forthcoming album Crybaby. In early August, we flew out to Vancouver and took over Kingsgate Mall together after it closed down for the night. It’s a legendary old mall in Vancouver and by 2:00 a.m. we had a simple, lonely, beautifully-shot video.
Quin: The music video collaboration was a dream. As an Eastside Vancouverite, to take over Kingsgate Mall was a career highlight — not a joke. I have been carrying my Kingsgate Mall tote with pride every day since. I can’t explain why it felt like we needed to shoot the video in a mall, but when Max asked for ideas, that was just what I saw. Sometimes you gotta follow your instincts.
On the night of the shoot, seeing us all in the mall, I knew it had been right to shoot there. I once heard that deja vu was when you passed through someone else’s memory. I felt like that was what I was hoping the video would feel like. That’s what singing the song and performing it feels like to me; it’s not quite mine, but it’s familiar — like deja vu.
Arkells and Tegan and Sara Share Origins of New Collaboration “Teenage Tears”: Exclusive
Jonah Krueger
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