Hey I'm Just Like You - Tegan And Sara: Review
are a Canadian indie rock and pop sister-duo who first starting releasing bedroom pop records in the late 90's before achieving critical and commercial success for their 2007 breakout record The Con. Since then the band has released a series of less and less successful records as critics have become increasingly against the duo's transition into a much more pop oriented sound. Hey I'm Just Like You is a special album that contains re-recordings of songs the pair wrote when they were teenagers and hoped to bring with it a return to the duo's rock sound.
Review By Lavender:
Just about everybody that loves indie music loves Tegan and Sara's The Con, because how could you not with a record so creative and catchy. Unlike many other people though I actually have a serious affinity for the early career of the duo as the first three records are full of underground rock and pop music that still sounds so fantastic in 2019. 2002's excellent If It Was You is an album I would strongly recommend and what I consider to be one of the most underrated records of the 2000's. Unfortunately since I became a conscious listener Tegan and Sara haven't really thrilled me. 2013's Heartthrob was a small step in the wrong direction that saw the duo diving into sugary pop music, but 2016's Love You To Death saw them completely falling down this trail and making one of the worst records to date. The push by fans to return to their original sound led Tegan and Sara to return to tracks they wrote during their teenage years, much closer to my favorite era of their career, which had me very excited. Unfortunately the same inexplicably over-production and a lack of distinct performances infests this record just as it did the last one, with only slightly better songwriting this time around.
The era got off to a very rough start with one of the weakest songs on the entire record serving as its lead single, and I think that I'll Be Back Someday is a track the band would already rather forget. Unfortunately there are a number of songs that share very similar issues across this record. Hell I'm Right Here is way too slow and has nearly nothing worthwhile throughout its runtime which includes one of the worst hooks you'll hear all year in pop music, which is something you should get used to if you're going to listen to this record in full. I Don't Own You Anything is an absolute nightmare of a track that sounds like something Taylor Swift would have released in 2010 and I want absolutely nothing to do with it. Finally Please Help Me is a super corny acoustic ballad that I have a genuinely hard time making it all the way through even after numerous listens through this record.
Even when they stumble upon to something solid on this record it is all too often stuck onto tracks with some awful pieces. Hold My Breathe Until I Die has some lyrics that I enjoy and I think the lyrical content is one of the highlights of this album, but aside from it all the performances are so slick, clean and inoffensive that it gives you no reason to ever want to return to the track. Hey I'm Just Like You has a better tune at its core with a sharper hook but one of the most dreadfully plain instrumentals I've heard all year that just makes it so instantly forgettable with almost no personality. We Don't Have Fun when We're Together Anymore is like so many of the other tracks here with a decent musical breakdown leading into the hook and even a good start to the hook but it just compleetly falls apart with an absolutely unbearable end to the chorus that makes the song such an obnoxious listen. The last two songs have similar issues, You Go Away And I Don't Mind has a great soaring key line that I like, keys being another highlight across the album, but aside from that there isn't much here. All I Have To Give The World Is Me has some really annoying roboty vocals in the verses but king of recovers it with one of the better written hooks that features a very stark instrumental which is a refreshing change of pace without having a ton of instrumentation dumped on top of it.
Even the highlights on this record don't really compare to my favorite of the duo's records, but unlike their last album there are some real highlights here. Don't Believe The Things They Tell You is a pretty decent ballad with dreamy keys and a stripped back instrumental that let the pair work more comfortably within the vocal performances. There is a grand breakdown on the hook with some electric guitar that I like quite a bit to wrap the song up. I Know I'm Not The Only One is a good song with some cute keys in the instrumental alongside chanted voices that remind me of an honest to god La Roux song. The hook is bearable and it makes for one of the best tracks here. Keep Them Close Cause They Will Fuck You Too is clearly the best track of the bunch with a very sharp musical progression that I love and the best hook on the entire record. This is one of the only places that the vocal performance really steals the show and it stands out head and shoulders above everything else here.
I'm just not sure what to say as far as whats next for Tegan and Sara. Since it has now been a full decade since they released a record that I truly enjoyed. Hey I'm Just Like You was the duo's attempt at a return to form but what life these tracks may have had when they were written is sucked out of them by lifeless performances and drab production that just leaves me scratching my head. As much as I love a handful of the duos albums and continue to return to them to this day my hopes of them ever returning to form are dwindling after this release. 3.5/10
