Today, rock powerhouse Taking Back Sunday: John Nolan (lead guitar, piano, vocals), Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), Shaun Cooper (bass), and Mark O’Connell (drums) shared a brand-new track and video entitled, The One, the multi-platinum selling rock band’s first new music in over four years. An inspiring declaration of love, hope, and acceptance, The One is a soaring reminder to seize the moment and live your dreams while you still can. Listen to The One HERE. In the track’s accompanying video, directed by DJay Brawner, the band primes for the next gig and new roads that lay ahead—inviting us along for the mystery ride.
Produced by Tushar Apte (Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj), and mixed by Neal Avron (Twenty One Pilots, Bleachers), The One finds the influential rock band flexing its creative muscles and evolving its sound without ever losing sight of the explosive riffs, affecting vocals, and epic choruses that has resonated with their audiences for so long. The anthemic new track also marks the band’s first release for Fantasy Records, the L.A based indie label who signed the influential quartet to a world-wide recording contract earlier this year.
“The One is a sweet love song—full on John Cusack holding a boombox,” the band says in a nod to the classic 80’s cinema moment in Say Anything. “We’ve been waiting a long time to share this song and we’re so excited that we finally can. We hope you love it as much as we do.”
On the track’s deeper meaning, the band explains, “This song came from a riff that Shaun Cooper wrote the day he lost his grandmother while she was in a nursing home at the start of the Covid pandemic. Devastated with overpowering sadness, he found comfort in writing music and initially titled the riff ‘Posivibes’ in an effort to find some light through the darkness. He never shared the story of the title or how that riff came together with us until after it was complete. Shaun didn’t want his story affecting the ultimate meaning of the song, because it’s actually an uplifting one.”
For over two decades, Taking Back Sunday has cultivated a massive, dedicated fanbase built around music that reverberates with supreme sincerity, desire, and connection. Originally from Long Island, NY, the band brought mature songcraft and pop sensibilities to punk’s rigid conformity, helping expand the genre’s contours while carrying the band to new heights.