When you’re sixteen years old, your first car acts as a sort of multipurpose safe haven. It’s a vessel of transportation, a symbol of the not-so-distant freedom of adulthood, a place to laugh, cry, sing, sleep, fall in love, and — as THEM poignantly reminds on their new single “Sunset Blvd.” — break up. There’s some irony to it; a relationship coming to an end in the front seat of the very thing that once made you feel invincible. But that’s another thing about being sixteen — everything, including love, feels like it’s going to last forever.
THEM, however, are no strangers to heartbreak. The West Seattle-based teen indie quartet — comprised of Thompson Whitehead, Hudson Steere, Ellie Vann, and Maia Schinkel — weave together melancholic piano, haunting harmonics, and grungy, teen rock ballad-inspired guitar riffs to portray the facets of modern romance across their four-track discography — falling for the wrong person (“BAD 4 U”), reveling in the bliss of new love (“Baby Please”), even the fear of losing the love of your life to someone else (“She Says”). “Sunset Blvd.” is the natural progression to this storyline, documenting the crumbling of a relationship as it pertains to that very same safe haven. “I remember singing in my car,” Hudson Steere sings at the beginning of the chorus. “Now we just fight, ‘cause you don’t listen anymore.” But it’s going to be okay, THEM assures, adding “But that’s alright, ‘cause you were never that guy.”
There’s a level of maturity reflected in “Sunset Blvd.” that is particularly commendable for such a young group. Understanding that someone else’s reactions are not a reflection of reality is something many of us struggle with long into adulthood, but as THEM waxes atop distorted guitar and drum machine, they’ve got it down early. It’s not a break-up song, per se. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that sure, break-ups fucking suck — but they’re not going to kill you. The quartet’s ethereal harmonies and automobile-aesthetic lyricism mesh brilliantly, resulting in an upbeat, indie-pop anthem à la Olivia Rodrigo’s “deja vu.”
Produced by Destin Mai and mixed by Ezek Lords, “Sunset Blvd.” truly is, as the band posits on social media, the song of the summer. Take it from THEM, rather than spending another second brooding over someone else’s loss, just get in your car, turn up “Sunset Blvd.”, and drive.