“So Sick” by Caring Less is the kind of song that feels like the audio equivalent of trying to laugh through a panic attack in a public bathroom. In a good way.
What started as an improvised jam session during band practice somehow metastasized into this unapologetically messy, jangly, alt-rock throwback. It’s one that’s as emotionally unstable as it is sonically tight. It’s like if your favorite ‘90s college rock band stumbled into a therapy session and left with a fuzz pedal and a vague sense of closure.
The guitars? Jangly, bright, borderline sarcastic. The beat? Restless in a “no I’m fine, I swear” kind of way. But the lyrics? That’s where it gets fun. Or terrifying. Or both. Because behind all the power chords & polished chaos, “So Sick” is quietly baring its teeth; unraveling the tangled mess where desire and self-destruction meet, throwing it all into a chorus you can shout along to while dissociating at the grocery store.
There’s something almost performatively cheerful about the whole thing, like a sitcom character smiling just a second too long. The kind of upbeat sadness that only truly thrives in alternative rock, where the line between catharsis and collapse is marked by a very tastefully placed cymbal crash.
It doesn’t reinvent the genre, no. But it doesn’t have to. Because what “So Sick” does brilliantly is channel that distinctly millennial ability to turn existential dread into a singalong. It’s Veruca Salt meets early Metric, dragged through a Tumblr post you regret liking but keep rereading anyway.
And look, if you’re someone who’s ever processed emotional instability through a perfectly timed key change or considered yelling “I’m fine” over an indie guitar riff a valid form of therapy; this song gets it. “So Sick” by Caring Less really, truly gets it.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
