by Jade Winings (@jadewinings)
Alternative band Sweet Pill emerged in the Philadelphia scene in 2018, later presenting their 2019 debut EP, Lost In It. That record featured relatable singles “Best of Me” and “Swallow The Pill,” both anticipating the theme of cheering for the underdog chasing for a bone to be thrown. In Spring of 2022, Sweet Pill blessed us with their latest album, Where The Heart Is. The record provides another proper-dose of pop-punk and Midwest emo by combining the feelings of Snail Mail’s soft-girl tunes, Tigers Jaw mood-swings, and Paramore-esque vocal melodies.
Sweet Pill's Where The Heart Is represents deep feelings within the active journey of wanting and trying to emotionally heal and grow. The admirable alignment of production and lyrics in all tracks perfectly highlights the album's overall feeling of emotional transcendence. “Where The Heart Is,” establishes the first step to an emotional journey; self-awareness. The track exemplifies feelings such as boredom of an anxious routine, and the intense feeling of wanting to be hard on yourself for lack-of motivation to change it. Leading through the track-list of songs relating to feelings of exhaustion within optimism, “Red String” represents the feelings of frustration from the desperation to be something stable and the building of emotional walls rooted in self-deprecation. The healing journey of Where The Heart Is is perfectly concluded with the final track, “Cut,” expressing the important process of self-mourning and emotional release in order to move forward. Listening to Where The Heart Is front-to-back is highly recommended to become fully immersed into Sweet Pill's empowering story.
Sweet Pill has a way of freshening up nostalgic sounds of the past by making them their own, and it has lead the band into accomplishing the release of some of the best emo anthems of 2022 accumulated into Where The Heart Is. Sweet Pill is promised to be an exciting band to follow - so grab your tissues and gather your emotional strength, because it is time for you to listen to Where The Heart Is.