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When Sara Quin of folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara blasted Odd Future ringleader Tyler The Creator for his homophobic and misogynist lyrics in a lengthy screed posted on her website last month, a lot of people took notice. Some agreed with her, some defended Tyler and many remained deeply ambivalent. But for mashup duo The Jane Doze (New Yorkers Jen Mozenter and Claire Schlissel), this was a chance not to take a side but to create a song that commented on the controversy in an amusing, somewhat neutral way.
The resulting "Tegan the Creator (Tyler, the Creator x Tegan and Sara)" consists of T+S's plaintively pretty "Call It Off" crammed unwillingly together with Tyler's menacing "Yonkers." As inappropriate a pairing as it is, I'm struck by how good the two songs sound together; no matter what you think of their ideas, both artists have undeniable aesthetic talent. There are further visual parallels in the songs' videos; Tegan gets wrapped in a phone cord, while Tyler hangs himself. (Please try neither at home.)
Tegan and Sara might be irritated that The Jane Doze aren't taking the feud seriously enough, and Tyler will probably tweet something absurdly horrible about it, but for a split second, this video makes it seem like the artists might have some common ground. I'm not holding my breath for a collaboration.
+ Watch the video for "Tegan the Creator (Tyler the Creator x Tegan and Sara)"
Tegan The Creator (Tyler The Creator x Tegan & Sara) from The Jane Doze on Vimeo.