Tegan & Sara

In my lifetime, I have met gay brothers (more than once). Also, I used to be friends with one half of two lesbian sisters. However, I've never met identical gay twins of either sex. I understand that a lot of them exist though. Today, we'll be presenting one such pair: here are Canada's own Tegan & Sara.

Tegan and Sara Quin are identical twins born September 19, 1980, in Calgary, Canada. They grew up preferring boys' toys and clothing, and their parents - who had to bribe them to wear dresses in family photos - thought it was just a phase. But around age 12, Tegan began to notice feeling differently towards her female friends.

Sara, simultaneously realizing her own lesbian inclinations, began to feel uncomfortable around the girls in her school and locker room. Having been a child of the 90s, she looked up to openly bisexual rocker Ani DiFranco and lesbian performers like Melissa Etheridge and k.d. Lang.

Later on, Tegan (the scamp) read her sister’s diary and learned that she was gay, and the two then “beat the crap out of each other.” Tegan felt excited that her twin sister was also gay, but also worried that others would find out. She also feared that others would automatically assume that she’d only identified as lesbian because her twin sister had too.

When Sara began bringing her first girlfriend around,  her mother eventually asked if they were dating. When Sara answered yes, her mom became uncomfortable and told Sara not to bring her girlfriend over anymore, which started heated arguments between the two; her mom eventually became more supportive though.

As the twins entered their 20s, they began to understand that they could mix political messages into their pop music to help create social change, and so they did.

Tegan says, “I don’t think our music is eradicating ignorance and homophobia or sexism. I think it’s just helping people come a little bit further over the line to understanding.”

Tegan and Sara began playing guitar and writing songs at age 15, forming a band called Plunk. In 1997, they used their school's recording studio to record two demo albums: Who's in Your Band? and Play Day. In 1998, they won Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition, using the studio time they won to record their first professional demo, Yellow tape, which was followed by Orange tape and Red tape.

In 1999, they released their debut album Under Feet Like Ours independently. There are definitely echoes of Alanis Morissette here. The album's opening track is a good song called Divided:

Freedom is another song that stood out:

Clever Meals is also worth discovering:

In 1999 they signed with Neil Young's Vapor Records and released This Business of Art through the label in 2000.

Opening track The First was also their first ever single:

My Number is a song that explores power dynamics in a relationship:

Closing track Superstar is another stunner:

They have toured extensively since the release of This Business of Art. In 2002, they released their third album If It Was You. Opening track Time Running was the second single that they ever released:

So far, all the songs that I've played were written by Tegan. Here's a song written by Sara. It was also a single and it's called Monday Monday Monday:

City Girl wasn't a single, but it's definitely worth listening to:

Their fourth album, So Jealous, was released in 2004 and led to wider success and attention, both locally and internationally. One track off the album, Walking with a Ghost, was covered by The White Stripes. Here's the Tegan and Sara version:

... And here's the White Stripes version:

Walking with a Ghost was Sara's song. Take Me Anywhere, however, was Tegan's song:

I Won't Be Left is yet another Tegan song: as it was with many of her songs from that period, delicate, confessional lyrics are coupled with a catchy melody in the style of Power Pop.

Another single off this album was Speak Slow:

Their next album was The Con (2007). Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals and previously Weezer, Hunter Burgan of AFI, and Kaki King all appeared and collaborated on the album.

I Was Married, a short 'n' sweet track by Sara, opened the album:

Relief Next to Me was the second track. Another intricate piece written by Sara:

Back in Your Head was a single. It was their first single to enter any major Singles chart, peaking at #32 in Belgium.

Like O, Like H was yet another Sara composition, is looking back on her childhood. You may have noticed that in the beginning of our presentation Tegan's songs had the lion's share, but in time, Sara's compositions were the more intriguing. An interesting shift in power dynamics.

Their next album, Sainthood (2009) debuted at #21 on the Billboard US top 200 albums. The duo had entered the big time.

First single off the album was Hell. It made #56 in Canada and #2 in Canada's Rock/Alternative chart.

Next single was Alligator. It peaked at #32 in the US Dance chart at #29 in Canada's Rock/Alternative chart.

Follow-up On Directing peaked at #27 in Canada's Rock/Alternative chart.

The Cure is a Tegan composition. It has a strong 80s vibe.

For their next album, Tegan and Sara made a bold decision: They became a full-on pop group. After more than a decade of making Indie-Rock hits, the Canadian twin sisters largely traded guitars for synthesizers, focused on hooks and became even more of a success. Their 2013 album, Heartthrob, subsequently made it to #2 in Canada, #3 on the Billboard US 200 and the single Closer topped the dance chart in the US. it also peaked at #13 in Canada. It is their biggest hit so far. Here it is:

Goodbye, Goodbye is a New Wave-influenced rocker. It made #30 in Canada.

I Was a Fool was inspired by Rihanna's singles Unfaithful and Umbrella, and it's about a woman who is in a troubled relationship but doing nothing to fix it, making her seem like a fool. It peaked at #19 in Canada and was their first charting single in the UK, albeit at #143.

How Come You Don't Want Me, a moody and dramatic midtempo track, wouldn't have been out of place on an early Cyndi Lauper record.

The album's closing track, Shock to Your System, is a bleak Synth Pop heartbreak ballad.

In 2014, they sang Everything Is Awesome, the theme song for The Lego Movie, with The Lonely Island. The song peaked at #17 in the UK, #35 in Canada, #57 in the US and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

For the duo's latest album, Love You To Death (2016), the sisters worked with producer Greg Kurstin, whose credits include Sia and Adele and who worked on the lion's share of Heartthrob. Together, the Quins and Kurstin crafted strong, thoughtful, catchy songs like Boyfriend, 100x and U-Turn, all of which explore various forms of relationships, from romantic ones to their own sibling dynamic. The album peaked at #3 in Canada, at #13 in Australia, at #16 in the US, at #18 in Hungary, at #29 in Ireland, and at #30 in the UK.

Boyfriend was the first single off the album. It was met with generally positive reviews and moderate commercial reception.

Lyrically, the song tackles the subject of defining a relationship, with the chorus listing contradictory behaviour that makes the narrator feel sometimes like a lover and other times like a friend. Inspired by a love triangle from Sara Quin's past in which she was dating a bisexual woman who had never dated another woman and was still also dating a man, Boyfriend also touches on LGBT themes including societal heteronormativity. On the relatability of the song, Sara Quin explained: "Obviously, being gay, there's sort of a bit of a gender twist in the song... that sometimes doesn't seem immediately relatable to everybody [...]. But... we've all been in that situation where we really like someone and we want to make it official and they're not ready, that's what the song is about."

100x is a beautiful song about their sibling relationship that comes with an adorable doggie video:

U-Turn is a love song that you will want to dance to.

Another strong song is That Girl:

Finally, here's Hang on to the Night, a mesmerizing ballad:

Tegan and Sara are active politically and socially engaged. They are both advocates for LGBT equality as well as music education, literacy, and cancer research. Despite being Canadian they are both actively involved in US politics due to spending time living in the US. Both have used their fame to discuss issues important to them. Creatively, they seem to have a lot more to give, and we are eagerly waiting for whatever comes next.