TEGAN AND SARA - If It Was You LP

Label: Sire / Rhino

Before Tegan and Sara were typecast as a radio-friendly indie-pop duo, they were two teenage sisters writing acoustic folk songs in their bedrooms. Their first two albums were dutifully inspired by the likes of Ani DiFranco and ’90s punk, trudging them through the Canadian alt-scene carefully and cautiously. But it was their third record If It Was You that projected them to new ground and space—both sonically and professionally. The LP was produced by the same duo that did the New Pornographers record Mass Romantic, an album Tegan and Sara claim to be obsessed with at the time—a sure full-circle moment for the two.

For the time period that they were in, writing lyrics about queer guilt and shame was brave. Tegan and Sara helped edge open the door for more queer musicians to come. Many take solace in their past songs (ie: The Aces, Hayley Kiyoko, PVRIS). Not a single track on this record explicitly mentions women or uses she/her pronouns—but it is heavily queer-coded. And sometimes that’s all a fanbase needs.