Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin. Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. After releasing a number of demos on cassette tape, the duo released their debut album in 1999, after which they were signed by Neil Young's Vapor Records. They have released ten studio albums, most recently Crybaby in 2022.
Tegan and Sara's 2011 video album Get Along received a Grammy nomination. Amongst other collaborations, in 2014 the duo performed "Everything Is Awesome" featuring The Lonely Island for The Lego Movie soundtrack. In 2019, they released a memoir titled High School, which in 2022 was adapted as a television series for Amazon Freevee. Both individuals are involved in the LGBTQ community.
History
1995–2002: Background and early work
Tegan and Sara began writing songs at 14. One of the first songs they wrote was "Tegan Didn't Go To School Today", written by Sara and recorded by the pair on cassette tape. The band was first called "Plunk", short for "light punk", due to their lack of a drummer and bassist. In 1997, they used their school's recording studio to record two demo albums: So Who's in Your Band? and Play Day. In 1998 they won Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition, which awarded them studio time. They recorded their first professional demo called Yellow Tape under "Sara and Tegan" using this studio time. This was followed by Orange Tape and Red Tape. In May 1998, they opened for Hayden in Calgary, marking their first major show.In 1999, they released their debut album, Under Feet Like Ours, as "Sara and Tegan", with producer Jared Kuemper., After listening to it, Elliot Roberts flew up from Los Angeles to meet them at the Starfish Room in Vancouver, British Columbia, and he offered them a record deal that same night. Two songs from Red Tape and two from Orange Tape appeared on the album. They later changed their name to "Tegan and Sara" because people regularly misheard "Sara and Tegan" as "Sara Antegan". They signed with Neil Young's Vapor Records and released This Business of Art through the label in 2000. According to Tegan, having no manager for the first three years of their career taught them to be “very cognizant and present” in every decision.
2002–2011: Mainstream success
In 2002, Tegan and Sara released their third album, If It Was You. Their fourth album, So Jealous, was released in 2004 and led to wider success and attention, both locally and internationally. This album was released through both Vapor and Sanctuary. The band's 2007 album, The Con'','' was released by Vapor and Sire because Sanctuary no longer released new music in the United States. The album was co-produced by Chris Walla. Guests and collaborators on the album included Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals, Hunter Burgan of AFI, and Kaki King.On October 26, 2009, Tegan and Sara released their sixth album, Sainthood, produced by Chris Walla and Howard Redekopp. Sainthood debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 21, selling 24,000 copies in its first week. While recording the album, Tegan and Sara wrote songs together in New Orleans for a week. The song "Paperback Head" was the only song the pair wrote to appear on the album, making it the first song on any Tegan and Sara album they wrote together. Spin gave Sainthood four out of five stars and wrote, "Tegan and Sara's music may no longer be the stuff of teens, but its strength remains in how much it feels like two people talking." The duo also put out a three-volume book set titled ON, IN, AT that included stories, essays, journals, and photos of the band touring America in late 2008, writing together in New Orleans and touring Australia. Lindsey Byrnes and Ryan Russell took the photographs in the book.
In 2011, they launched "2011: A Merch Odyssey", which saw at least one new item in the official online stores every month for the entire year. A live CD/DVD combination package titled Get Along was released on November 15 and contained three films titled "States", "India", and "For the Most Part". It was nominated for Best Long-Form Music Video at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
2012–2018: ''Heartthrob'', ''Love You to Death,'' and ''The Con X: Covers''
Tegan and Sara began recording their seventh studio album, Heartthrob, on February 20, 2012. Greg Kurstin produced eight songs. Joey Waronker contributed drums to these songs. Two songs were produced by Mike Elizondo, with Victor Indrizzo contributing drums, Josh Lopez contributing guitar, and Dave Palmer contributing piano. Justin Meldal-Johnsen had the last two songs. The first single, "Closer", was released on September 25, 2012. The album was released on January 29, 2013, and debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at number 3, the band's highest-charting record, selling 49,000 copies in its first week. Heartthrob debuted at number 2 on the Canadian chart and digital downloads chart and hit number 1 on the rock and alternative album charts. In July 2013, the album was shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. In March 2014, Tegan and Sara won three Juno Awards for Single of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Group of the Year making them the first female band and the first duo to win this award.Tegan and Sara finished their eighth studio album on November 30, 2015. On March 10, 2016, they announced that the album's title would be Love You to Death, with the release date set for June 3 of that year. They released the album's lead single, "Boyfriend", on April 8. On April 25, tour dates were announced for their 2016 global tour to support the album. The duo released a music video for each track on the album.
Tegan and Sara collaborated with 17 artists, including Cyndi Lauper, to create The Con X: Covers in 2017 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the release of The Con. The participating artists recorded covers of The Con
2019–2020: ''Hey, I'm Just Like You'' and memoir
In May 2018, at Out Web Fest, Tegan stated they were working on a book, podcast and new record. On September 24, 2019, their memoir High School was released by MCD Books, a division of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, alongside Simon & Schuster Canada and Virago Press in the United Kingdom. The memoir details their teenage years, growing up in Canada and "worshipping" Nirvana, Green Day and the Smashing Pumpkins. The book also details the twins' exploration of their sexuality. While researching the book, Tegan and Sara found cassettes of some of their earliest songs.In early 2019, Tegan and Sara announced they were working on their next record for release later that year. On July 9, 2019, they announced via Instagram that their ninth album would be called Hey, I'm Just Like You and would consist of 12 re-recorded songs they initially wrote as teenagers. It was released on September 27, 2019, three days after the release of their memoir.
In April 2020, the duo created a live "show" called Where Does the Good Grow to entertain their fans during the COVID-19 pandemic, with merchandise designed by EE Storey. The show was held every Thursday at 3 p.m. PST on their Instagram account until the series finale on July 23, 2020.
In 2021, it was announced that a TV show named High School, based on their memoir of the same name, would be filmed in Calgary and directed by Clea DuVall. Twins Railey and Seazynn Gilliland were cast as the main characters. The show was filmed from April to June 2022 and was released on Amazon Freevee in the fall of 2022.
2021–2022: ''Still Jealous'', new record label, and ''Crybaby''
In July 2021, Tegan and Sara announced a return to the studio to work on their 10th album. On February 1, 2022, they announced Still Jealous, an utterly acoustic re-imagining of So Jealous. Still Jealous was released on February 11, 2022.In April 2022, the duo announced they had left Warner Records and signed a new record deal with Mom + Pop. They also released the first single, "Fucking Up What Matters", from their 10th studio album on April 28, 2022. On July 12, 2022, they unveiled the album title, Crybaby, and that it would be released on October 21, 2022. The second single, "Yellow", was released on the same day, with the music video released on YouTube. The twins also announced their first tour in three years, which started in Philadelphia, PA, on October 26, 2022, and ended in Vancouver on November 20, 2022.