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The Tegan And Sara Starter Pack

24 Songs to Make You a Fan of Tegan and Sara

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The Tegan And Sara Starter Pack
Huffington Post

Tegan and Sara are a Canadian music duo made up of twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Although Tegan and Sara have been actively recording musicians since 1997 they only recently picked up mainstream success with their 2012 album Heartthrob which peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart. Tegan and Sara have an ever evolving sound. They started out with a very strictly indie rock/singer-songwriter sound, but as time has passed they have dabbled in alternative rock, indie pop, folk pop, synth pop and straight up pop music. However, one thing has stayed consistent throughout their musical evolution; one or both of the Quins is always a writer on every song they record.

If you have heard one of their two new singles ("Boyfriend" and "U-Turn") for their upcoming record Love You To Death and are intrigued to listen to more Tegan and Sara, but have no idea where to start in their seven album discography or if you have hear of them in passing (or watched the Lego Movie and heard "Everything is AWESOME!!!") but never really gave much thought into delving deeper into their discography, this Tegan and Sara starter pack is for you.

Under Feet Like Ours (1999)

This album was self released by the twins and it is their first album. Here are three highlights from their first album:

1. "Come On"

This song is also featured on their second album, their first album on a label, This Business of Art.

2. "Hype"


Much like "Come On," "Hype" is also featured on This Business of Art.

3. "Heavy"

This Business of Art (2000)

Tegan and Sara's second album, and first album released under the label Vapor, features six tracks from their first self release. Here are two highlights that are not featured on their first album.

1. "Frozen"

2. "All You Got"

If It Was You (2002)

In the duo's third album, they begin to move away from the acoustic sound on some tracks and begin to experiment with an alternative rock sound. Here are three highlights from the album.

1. "Time Running"


The opening track of the album, starts the album off on a different foot than their first two albums right away. It shows that Tegan and Sara are not afraid to experiment with their sound and take musical risks.
Fun fact: this song was also featured in an episode of "What's New, Scooby Doo?"

2. "I Hear Noises"


3. "Living Room"

So Jealous (2004)

Tegan and Sara's fourth album is their first taste of mainstream notoriety. Rolling Stone called it one of the top 50 albums of the year and one of the songs from the album was featured in two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy." So Jealous is also the duo's first real foray into pop music sounds. Here are four highlights from the album.

1. "Take Me Anywhere"


A perfect upbeat mix between indie-pop and indie-rock further showcasing the duo's growth and range.

2. "Where Does The Good Go"


If you watch "Grey's Anatomy," then you are already familiar with this song. It has been featured in two separate episodes of the long running medical drama.

3. "Walking With A Ghost"

Another song from the album that gained quite a bit of notoriety. It was featured in an episode of "Medium" and in the movie "Monster-In-Law." The song was also notably covered by the White Stripes on an EP named after the song.

4. "So Jealous"

The title track is one of the twin's first experiments with an 80's synth pop sound. However, the song also features electric and acoustic guitars as well showcasing their refusal to be tied down to any one genre even in a singular song.

The Con (2007)

The Con is Tegan and Sara's first album to chart (reaching a peak position of 34 on the Billboard 200 chart, 10 on the Billboard rock chart, and 4 on the Billboard Tastemaker chart) The album features two very distinct sounds, yet it all flows together seamlessly. While Tegan's songs reflect the pop-punk, emo music of the mid-2000s, Sara's songs are very timeless pop-influenced songs with meaningful lyrics. Here are four highlights from this album.

1. "Are You Ten Years Ago"


A song written by and primarily sung by Tegan featuring Hunter Burgan of AFI on bass.

2. "Back In Your Head"


A song written by and primarily sung by Sara.

3. "Nineteen"


Another Tegan song.

4. "Like O, Like H"

A Sara song that blends very well with Tegan's songs.

Sainthood (2009)

On previous albums, the twins never truly co-wrote a song together. There are songs where they are both credited as writers, yet on all of those songs, one sister wrote more for it than the other. The every song on the album was co-written by both Tegan and Sara.

Sainthood also marks the continued uphill rise of the duo. The album opened at #21 on the Billboard 200 chart, 13 places ahead of the peak position of The Con. Here are four highlights from Sainthood.

1. "Arrow"


Sainthood has a decidedly united pop-rock sound throughout which is showcased perfectly in their opening track.

2. "Hell"


3. "On Directing"

4. "Alligator"

"Alligator" is perhaps the most pop oriented song from the album. It takes pop-rock dangerously close to removing the later half of the phrase, but despite (or maybe because of it) the difference in mood from the rest of the album this is one of the stand out tracks.

Heartthrob (2013)

Four years pass between the release of Sainthood and Heartthrob, and in those four years, Tegan and Sara's sound undergoes a radical change. Ever since their start as recording artists, Tegan and Sara have flirted around with pop music, but aside from songs like "Back In Your Head" and "Alligator," they never took the plunge into creating mainstream pop music. Heartthrob took that plunge, and it paid off big time; Heartthrob not only debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, but it reached a peak position of #3 and propelled Tegan and Sara to true mainstream status. Here are four highlights from Heartthrob.

1. "Closer"

"Closer" is Tegan and Sara's most popular/most successful song. If you have yet to hear and fall in love with "Closer," now is your chance.

2. "Drove Me Wild"


This is one of my personal favorite songs from this album and from Tegan and Sara in general. I think it is impossible to listen to this song and not want to bounce along with it.

3. "How Come You Don't Want Me"


This song is produced and co-written by Jack Antonoff of fun. and Bleachers fame who has previously produced and co-wrote for Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles.

4. "Now I'm All Messed Up"


If these 24 songs didn't leave you a fan of Tegan and Sara's music, I hope you can admire their achievements outside of music. The sisters are both out lesbians who are very active in advocating for equality in their home country of Canada as well as in the US. Their recent transition into mainstream pop music makes them two of the most visible and popular queer women in pop music. While very few of their songs are classified as political, they are both very politically minded outside of music.

If this 24 song list did leave you a fan of Tegan and Sara, you can rejoice! Their new album Love You To Death comes out June 3rd 2016. If you want to listen to this playlist again (or listen to it a first time outside of Youtube) here is a Spotify version of all of the songs featured in the article plus a few more.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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