Plain White T’s sings and celebrates love again: ‘Let’s enjoy our lives and fall in love again’

It comes as no surprise to anyone that the pop rock-oriented emo musical style has made a comeback in recent years, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, with several bands of the genre that were successful in the 2000s releasing studio albums and tours — in In some cases, some groups even returned to the roads and studios.

One of the great representatives of the scene at the time, with successful songs that talked about love, is Plain White T’sresponsible for hits like “Hey There Delilah,” Rhythm of Love” It is “1, 2, 3, 4,” currently formed by Tom Higgenson, Mike Retondo, De’Mar Hamilton It is Tim Lopez.

In fact, this Saturday morning, the 2nd, at around 12pm (Brasília time), the American group will perform in Brazil, in a show at the festival I Wanna Be Tourwhich celebrates “great names in national and international pop punk and emo,” at Allianz Parquein São Paulo.

During an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, Higgenson, who was very excited to speak to the Brazilian press, was asked about the studios’ hiatus of just over five years. After launching Parallel Universe (2018), Plain White T’s released the titled album, with 13 tracks in total, on November 17, 2023.

As the band’s singer and frontman recalled, there was this feeling of the music world not returning to normal, and they needed to adapt to the moment, recording in different home and professional studios. Additionally, the musicians worked with several different producers.

Second Tom Higgenson, it made sense to make the self-titled album this way remotely, practically from a home office, as the group had never done anything like this. Even the tone was different, especially compared to Parallel Universewhich has a darker feel.

“That’s definitely where I was at that point. After the pandemic happened, we were like, ‘Okay, there’s no time for this. We need to get back to love and happiness and hope.’ I’m definitely an eternal optimist, a hopeless romantic, and it’s like all these things, a little beaten down over the years, have been squeezed out of me by bad relationships or life, whatever.

I was definitely feeling re-energized and refreshed after the pandemic. A lot of this comes across on the new album, which is much more hopeful: “Let’s enjoy our lives and fall in love again, and let’s do all the things that make life great.”

The result of this return and celebration of love is very positive for the Plain White T’swho just finished the part of the new tour in the United States, in which fans sang along to old hits and new tracks from the unreleased album — even those that were not released as singles and music videos.

Probably because we’re all in the same place. We’ve all been through what we’ve been through, and we all need all that hope and fun again, you know?

Plain White T’s show and a very special guest

In the next phase of the tour, the band arrives in Brazil to play five shows in I Wanna Be Tour. In addition to São Paulothey also go through Curitiba (March 3), Recife (March 6), Rio de Janeiro (March 9) and Belo Horizonte (March 10).

In the part of the show where they sing the hit “Hey There Delilah,” Plain White T’s will call on stage a very special guest, the Brazilian singer DAY LIMNS. When they confirmed the performance in Brazil, the artists wanted to collaborate with a Brazilian musician on a new song.

Conversation goes back and forth, the musicians get to know the work of DAY and they had the idea of ​​inviting her to participate in shows in Brazil. “And I don’t know how the connection with her was made, but, somehow, the idea of ​​her playing the song live came up,” he recalled. “On our last tour, we had a few moments where we randomly called up some fun people. At one of the shows, my son came out and sang one of the songs with us.

These moments are always something that makes the show that much more fun and memorable for the audience — and for us.

Why has emo returned to the spotlight in music?

This is an issue that Tom Higgenson doesn’t fully understand, but has some ideas: “I really don’t know. Due to the pandemic, everyone got a little nostalgic and everyone just wanted something that made them feel good or comfortable, and reminded them of better times,” he said.

“Even though emo music is considered sad, I don’t think it’s all sad. I think it’s all fun,” the singer said. “I mean, it’s all sad because you want love, or you’re looking for that girl, or that girl didn’t like you. If we could go back to the times when that was all that mattered, we’d all wish life was that simple.”

It’s just a matter of wanting something a little more, a little simpler, that makes you feel good and makes you feel a little younger.