Tegan And Sara Are Back With “Boyfriend” and “U Turn”

Guess what? You weirdos can finally take a breath, because Tegan and Sara are back and there’s a new album and you can actually listen to their new single right now! Tegan and Sara were on Beats 1 earlier this afternoon, and Sara discussed the events that drove her to write the poppy first single off their upcoming record, Love You To Death.

“Boyfriend” is sort of the antithesis of songs like “Cool For The Summer” and “I Kissed A Girl,” both flippant descriptions of casual dalliances with women. In this song, Sara’s describing what it feels like to be on the other end — to date a girl who isn’t used to being with women, and who inadvertently treats her partner pretty badly — “You call me up like you would your best friend / You turn me on like you would your boyfriend / But I don’t wanna be your secret anymore.”

“It’s a pretty straightforward pop song about a relationship that I was getting into with a girl who had never dated a girl before,” Sara explains. “She had a guy that she was sort of seeing, and we used to joke around that she was treating me like her boyfriend, and I was trying to get her to tie it down. I wanted her to make it official with me. And I think that’s pretty relatable: obviously, being gay, the sort of gender twist in the song. I get that that sometimes doesn’t seem immediately relatable to everybody, whether they’re straight or whatever. But [it’s] this idea that we’ve all been in that situation where we really like someone and we want to make it official, and they’re not ready.”

Sonically, “Boyfriend” isn’t far removed from the likes of of “Closer,” an effortlessly catchy chorus gliding over slinky beats and ethereal synthesizers. Why am I telling you? You can listen to it right now!

Later, because they weren’t content to merely taunt us with one track from the new record, the sisters Quin slyly released “U Turn” on Spotify. “U Turn” is a bubbly, effervescent love song that’s prrretty much tailor made for feeling feelings on the dance floor. If these two tracks are any indication, Love You To Death might just be the pop album of the year.

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Stef

Stef Schwartz is a founding member and the self-appointed Vapid Fluff Editor at Autostraddle.com. She currently resides in New York City, where she spends her days writing songs nobody will ever hear and her nights telling much more successful musicians what to do. Follow her on twitter and/or instagram.

Stef has written 464 articles for us.

21 Comments

    • Me neither! :3 I have to confess that I was kind of scared of the “BF” title (Justin Bieber and whatnot) but thank God! ^.^

  3. Update: I drove most of the length of the NJ turnpike this morning and listened to each of these approximately ten times. They have not gotten old. I think Boyfriend is their gayest song ever.

  4. I bought my first Tegan and Sara shirt yesterday :) I can’t wait for it to arrive!

  5. I’m really glad my roommate is out of town because is embarrassingly listened to ‘Boyfriend’ at least 40 times last night. I’m not even joking.

    They were also on the front page of Buzzfeed yesterday with a really good really in-depth article you should all read.

  6. I swear, every time I think I’m over being a fan girl, they put something new out and I’m sucked right back in…

    • and completely satisfying… and like, thank goddess someone wrote an antithesis to the “I Kissed a Girl” songs? I needed that? To stop treating us like a fetish?

      Also, five stars for “U-turn.” (OMG almost wrote “U-haul” and wouldn’t that have made this the GAYEST album ever in the history of time)

  11. I love me some T&S. I will admit that it took me some time to appreciate Heartthrob I just really miss their earlier sound. Maybe I’m nostalgic for my college days when The Con came out (and I did as well) but I do listen to their older stuff more than their newer. “Frozen” is 16 years old and I listen to that track constantly. I’m sure “Boyfriend” will grown on me, but it’s just OK now. I can totally relate to the song, but I’m just not blown away.

  12. U-Turn is such a summer tune, can’t wait for it to be warm enough to drive round blasting it with my windows down.

  14. oh man. to paraphrase something I saw on Tumblr, falling for straight girls is shit, but I’m glad it happened because “boyfriend” is such a banger! and “u-turn”! I’m so excited for this album!

  15. U-turn is my new jam!! If these songs are any indication, the whole album will be on repeat all summer.

    • I’ve had both songs on repeat for hours and I haven’t gotten tired of either one yet.

  16. Yissssssss. This along with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Boy Problems” is all I’m going to be listening to for the next week straight.

  17. Already been torturing my family, friends, and coworkers by playing these two on repeat! #noregrets

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