In an age of hyper-lacquered heartbreak ballads and pop, “I Try,” by Adam Janos and Mr. Sassy & the Backup Plans, explode like confetti in a gothic ballroom melodrama wrapped in mischief, heartache with a wink. This dark cabaret single, based on a hilariously tragic personal tale, is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year.
“I Try” is magical, and that’s the spirit. Imagine two artists in a sprawling, messy, lovely artist’s house. One nursing a crush that grew from a single kiss and wilted silently. The other, weary of hearing about the heartbreak above, struck a deal. “Enough. I’ll be in your band, okay? But will that make you stop talking about this, Kate? Because I need you to stop. It’s too much, Kate.” The backstory practically screams indie rom-com with a twist, and the resulting track doesn’t disappoint.
“I Try” is a banger. It embraces theatricality without sounding performative and matches rapier wit to raw emotion in a sound that’s equal parts of the Weimar Republic speakeasy and kitchen-table catharsis. There’s drama in every beat, sass in every vocal flourish, and a bitter undercurrent of “Why am I still heartbroken over someone I barely even knew?” that feels a little too self-incriminating.
The track, inspired by one man’s post-party sad spiral, never wallows despite its source. You will hear a sound that is densely narrative, emotionally candid, unapologetically dramatic, and self-aware to a fault. Adam Janos and Mr. Sassy & the Backup Plans may be a new band, but with this debut, they’ve found their sound, and no one else sounds like it. Now, with “I Try,” they turn heartbreak into a stage show, a prime-time drama about feeling too much, and here, somehow, it’s exactly the music we didn’t know we needed.
Connect with Mr. Sassy & the Backup Plans on Instagram – @mrsassyandthebackupplans
Follow Adam Janos on Spotify
Follow Mr. Sassy & the Backup Plans on Spotify
