Philadelphia Emo band Candy Tablet has a brand new album out, Nonetheless There is a Glow. Lead singer Zayna Yousseff breaks down how this album mirrored her psychological well being journey.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The emo band Candy Tablet has a brand new album out. It is referred to as “Nonetheless There’s A Glow.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHAMELESS”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) Convincing you to go. Convinces me to carry on.
CHANG: However to make it, the lead singer needed to overcome some fairly main hurdles. NPR’s Brianna Scott caught up along with her to learn the way she did it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Do you have got your ID?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Sure.
BRIANNA SCOTT, BYLINE: On a Friday evening in Philadelphia, there is a lengthy line of individuals of all ages ready to get into the Ukie Membership. Daniel DiBartolo (ph) is an occasion promoter who helped to placed on the present right here.
DANIEL DIBARTOLO: We’re making a neighborhood and a house for the scene. Simply, you understand, a bunch of weirdos that do not actually slot in wherever else, which I’m undoubtedly of that myself.
SCOTT: The group is right here for a listening get together. The native punk rock band Candy Tablet is sharing their new album “Nonetheless There’s A Glow.”
SWEET PILL: (Singing) Push again your hair so as to see. My keen eyes staring again at me. Say the phrase…
SCOTT: The following day, lead singer Zayna Youssef tells me, it was a battle to create this new album. Again in 2024, she says she was having hassle writing lyrics to the music her bandmates had been arising with.
ZAYNA YOUSSEF: I requested to scrap what we had, and simply, can we simply maintain writing extra? And it was a tough dialog as a result of how do you inform a gaggle of those who, like, love what they made, hey, this won’t be it.
SCOTT: On reflection, she says that had so much to do along with her psychological well being, which, after loads of touring behind the primary document, had hit all-time low.
YOUSSEF: I had undiagnosed melancholy, undiagnosed ADHD.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NO CONTROL”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) Holding onto one thing gold. However I at all times need extra.
SCOTT: That had an impact on how she was residing her life.
YOUSSEF: I haven’t got any management of myself. I am making these selections that give me that short-term satisfaction however make actually long-term – like, it is detrimental long run to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NO CONTROL”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) I am malleable, no management.
SCOTT: So Youssef and the band began over. Twice per week, all 5 members would collect to jam and develop concepts. And Youssef began remedy, one thing she’d by no means finished earlier than. That earlier track, “No Management,” was written earlier than that. This one was written after she started remedy. It is referred to as “Robust Love.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TOUGH LOVE”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) What I had’s not sufficient So what? Suck it up. I’m scared however not a coward.
YOUSSEF: To start with of the track, I say, what I’ve will not be sufficient. And on the finish of the track, I say, what I’ve is sufficient. I really feel like I would not be capable of say that, like, a 12 months in the past. Like, to have the ability to say what I’ve is sufficient – I would not be capable of say that with out, like, taking a step again, you understand?
SCOTT: Candy Tablet is usually described as a punk rock band. Although in addition they deploy an advanced method that has earned them the descriptor math rock, and Zayna Youssef’s confessional lyrics additionally join the band to the lengthy custom of emo music.
YOUSSEF: I imply, emo means emotional. That is actually it.
IAN COHEN: There’s one thing very interesting, I believe, about, like, discovering what emo is after which with the ability to undergo the historical past and, like, do your homework.
SCOTT: Music author Ian Cohen has largely reviewed emo music for the final 10 years. He is at present engaged on a e-book about Midwest emo. He can record loads of bands which have embodied this conventional of emotional fourthightness, beginning properly earlier than psychological well being was so prominently mentioned in public.
COHEN: It’s plain that emo, because it exists now, is inextricable from the better mainstreaming of therapeutic terminology and ideas in popular culture. I believe that’s completely one thing that has formed why individuals are into it.
SCOTT: Zayna Youssef tells me that she and her Candy Tablet bandmates are influenced by completely different subtypes of emo. Third-wave pop emo, pop punk, DIY math core, even one thing referred to as swan core.
YOUSSEF: So subsequently, we create a mix. So it is similar to emo mutt, I believe.
SCOTT: Emo mutt is her time period for that synthesis.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LETTING GO”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) Altering however I nonetheless see that child.
SCOTT: And, in fact, followers latch on to her lyrics. The final track on this album is named “Letting Go.”
YOUSSEF: And it’s by far everybody’s favourite track on the album. I believe it is as a result of it is the honesty, and I believe individuals are craving honesty these days.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LETTING GO”)
SWEET PILL: I shook out my sheets. No mess, got here clear.
SCOTT: Youssef sings about coming clear, abandoning components of your self which have outlived their function and being open to alter, about making progress.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LETTING GO”)
SWEET PILL: (Singing) I needed to let go.
SCOTT: She says that is essential.
YOUSSEF: I believe the tone of the album is hopefulness as a result of there is a hell of loads of emo music that is self-deprecating, and I do not wish to make one other album. I believe we’re in a world the place folks must see confidence and must see this world that – like, there’s nonetheless a glow. There’s nonetheless hope. You recognize, as darkish or as little as you might get, if there’s, like, an ember within the hearth, if there is a glow, like, you may nonetheless make that fireside occur once more.
SCOTT: Candy Tablet’s new album. “Nonetheless There’s A Glow” is out now. Brianna Scott, NPR Information, Philadelphia.
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