"I draw inspiration from my daily life but also snippets of things I hear and then I write down. When I come back to them later, maybe I remember them differently or remember them wrong, or maybe they're totally foreign to me, and that inspires a whole new story to me."
Stephanie Smith, Chicago Tribune
Chicago garage pop band Varsity (singer-songwriter Stephanie Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Patrick Stanton, bassist Spencer Smith and drummer Jake Stolz) are known for mining pop genre tropes of the past to create timeless and catchy indie pop tracks that come across as being fresh and innovative, while simultaneously dripping with nostalgia for seemingly simpler times.
On its surface, "So sad, so sad" seems like the perfect soundtrack for the dissolution of a high school romance; Smith certainly captures teenage melodramatic intensity in a compelling and appealing manner. But there's some polished and articulate wordplay that indicate that adolescence is being re-examined from the vantage point of experience: 'What if I gave my ambition for a brain?/ Only a fool would approve that trade'.
The retro flourishes - a soaring refrain matched with a hook and some Twee touches - combine with a sweet pop melody and wailing guitar riffs (which contribute to a grittier, rockier edge) to flesh out an anguished (and self aware) realization that the female lyrical persona cannot simply move on from a perishing relationship:
'So Sad So SadI could never make you stayToo Bad Too Bad
I could never walk awaySo Sad So SadI rely upon the shamTo help me explain why I will never be the sameTrying to be a perfect circleWeak just like I take my drinksA crumb upon my plate leads to a week of crying streaksI'll never walk awayI could never walk awayWalk away'
Lyrics: Musixmatch
