Sweet Pill

Sweet Pill’s sophomore album, Still There’s a Glow, is a hard-fought document of self-reflection and growth. It is raw and real, stacked with a lyrical honesty that’s matched by singer Zayna Youssef’s soaring, expressive vocals. Written and recorded in the wake of a whirlwind three years following their 2022 debut LP, Where the Heart Is–and after scrapping essentially an entire album’s worth of demos–Still There’s a Glow is a dynamic, cathartic journey of making conscious change within oneself.

“I went through some depression last spring, and then I went into therapy. It was also a big turning point in my life as I was about to turn 30, while I’d written our first record when I was graduating from college–that’s a big change,” Youssef explains. “I could’ve kept making bad choices because they’re easy, but I had to come clean to myself. Half the album was written before and the other half after, so the songs are kind of hard on myself but some are also hopeful, with a light at the end of the tunnel. You put out a fire, there’s still an ember that’s still glowing–that’s the record. It’s about being at a low and climbing out of it.” 

The close-knit New Jersey/Philadelphia quintet had been going virtually nonstop since the release of Where the Heart Is (Topshelf). They went on tour with bands including La Dispute and The Wonder Years, embarked on their own headlining runs–organically growing a devoted fanbase with their passionate live show, which Stereogum has lauded as “an immensely charming powerhouse…songs that obliterate the distinctions between power and finesse, between pop and hardcore, between emo and the larger continuum of crowd-pleasing rock ‘n’ roll.” The young band earned co-signs from stars like Hayley Williams and Doja Cat, while continuing to tour nonstop worldwide and play festivals like Best Friends Forever, Riot Fest, and Outbreak. 

Though they were writing all the while, the exhaustion of new expectations and such an intense touring regimen took its toll. When the time came for Sweet Pill to begin recording the material they felt was meant to be their next album, Youssef was still figuring out what and how she wanted to sing on nearly half the songs. She was blocked–no matter how many times she sat down and tried, things wouldn’t click into place. “I had just been trying to write these same parts for such a long time,” she says. “You do it, you say it, and you don’t even have to think about it really. You just make the sounds, noises, and words, and you think ‘absolutely yes,’ [but] it was like ‘fuck, no’ every single time. I couldn’t differentiate between what was just being hard on myself, or if it was like actually ‘fuck, no.’ Now, I realize it was definitely 50/50.” The band decided to start fresh and step away from most of the demos they’d created, choosing to instead pause, look inward, and move on their own time in order to ease the pressure they had been heaping on themselves over the past three years. 

This is where Still There’s a Glow really begins. Gathering additional new material from her bandmates helped to unlock Youssef lyrically, and the entire undertaking marked a shift in Sweet Pill’s creative dynamic: it is their first release written entirety as a group, and with the current line-up of guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney. Ushering in a new era of the band, they wanted to encapsulate the energy of their live show in the new recordings, and honed in on their individual parts with that in mind. And from the first note, Still There’s a Glow sounds like a band that has put itself back together, with lyrics throughout that feel deeply determined in the face of daily struggles with pressure and self-doubt. “I’m telling you, nothing was easy about this,” Youssef asserts, while singer/guitarist Sean McCall explains, “The process of this record came from a lot of trial and error until the album essentially shaped and formed itself.”

Burnished through this process, Still There’s a Glow has a more elevated sound that highlights Sweet Pill’s evolution. Crisply recorded by Gradwell House wizards Matt Weber (producer, engineer, mixing) and Dave Downham (mastering), the songs are big and hard-hitting yet also at times showcase a quieter new direction while still feeling familiar. Opener “Sunblind” is upbeat and affirmative, the lyrics reading like Youssef giving herself advice, while songs like “Glow” and “Smoke Screen” glimmer and smolder, woven around her and McCall’s interplaying vocals. The driving tracks are belied by titles that are largely surreal depictions of fire and destruction, like “Sunblind,” “No Control,” “Slow Burn,” and “Rotten,” emblematic of Youssef’s journey of self-confrontation, burning down and rebuilding how she moves through her life and her personal relationships. In the aptly named “Tough Love,” Youssef reveals: “I am scared, but not a coward/The difference is in the definition you give it/Tough love, so toughen up/What I have’s enough.”

Still There’s a Glow captures a time marked by change and progression. “Seeing Zayna change influenced the band,” explains Williams. “We grew, both as songwriters and as people.” “A lot of the album is about the hurdle of being kind to yourself, making good choices for yourself,” Youssef says. “This was our first time writing as a band and to an audience, and it’s so honest and vulnerable. I hope it makes people feel like they can be honest with themselves in the same way.”