Cover Art Courtesy of Big Machine Records

NASHVILLE, TN (October 18, 2021) – And then it was done…Like everything about Pop revolutionaries Avenue Beat, the now released the debut farewell album fits the mold they’ve built from their early beginnings. Taking a cue from Banksy – Sami Bearden, Savana Santos and Sam Backoff shredded their collaboration on the verge of releasing their debut album. Rather than shelve the dozen tracks that measure life during the pandemic and shutdown, they highlighted their signature wit and opted to make it both an eagerly anticipated debut and a final note in a career that defied convention.
 
Having established themselves as DIY girls creating low-impact songs about culture malaise, social injustice, the torque of the daily grind and the ironic role of Pop music to clean up the things Adderal, Ritalin and Xanax can’t touch, Avenue Beat collects “F2020,” “WOMAN,” “i don’t really like your boyfriend” and fleshes those songs out with a series of songs that culminate in the bittersweet harmony-forward end-of-the-journey “this is goodbye.”

People calls Avenue Beat “three merry masters of irreverence and irony,” while Teen Vogue embraces the trio whose music “combines the frankness of someone like Julia Michaels or Kacey Musgraves with their own combination of pop, hip-hop, and folk influences.” And then there’s The New York Times, whose Jon Pareles not only named “F2020” his song of the year with the headline “Powerful Statements, Memorable Hooks,” but the Year End Critics List also saw Jon Caramanica writing, “ ‘F2020’ is a tenderly sung soundtrack of the march to oblivion that this cruel, vicious, unsparing year has been.”
 
With their gift for whipping up loops, grooves and cheap keyboard sounds threaded with wry commentary, it makes perfect sense to send Bearden off with the last few songs addressing the moment and giving their fans closure, “Everything you never get to say, it’s in these last few songs,” Santos explained. 

“Just because we’ve done everything we’re going to do as Avenue Beat,” Backoff said pre-launch, “that doesn’t mean we don’t want to mark what happened over the last eight years. We have written a lot of songs, released a bunch of music and created enough songs from our lives that other people feel, too, it wouldn’t be right to stop this without putting a record out.”
 
“And we’re so glad we got to finish the journey with these songs,” Bearden said of her decision. “It’s all here, and it tracks us from ‘F2020’ to the very end. It’s hard when you know it’s time to go, because I’m leaving two people I really love. But I also know this is not where I need to be.”

Just three girls sorting through their own discouragement, dysthymia and disgust created new dynamics. Always plucky, the childhood friends and Quincy, Indiana theater nerds that embody the voice of a generation grown tired of the hype, the blame and the ludicrous nature of extreme PoVs. As Backoff tells People.com in the group’s only interview, “We’ve always just written songs like, this is how we feel, and this is exactly how we’re saying it, and here it is.” 
 
With additional production from Julian Bunetta, known for his work with One Direction, Rita Ora and Fifth Harmony, Avenue Beat delivers a Pop gem as the first and final chapter. For anyone weathering break-ups, break-offs or just breaks who’s looking for higher ground knows, finding grace in the conflicting emotions isn’t easy. But now, there’s the debut farewell album. All you have to do is listen…

the debut farewell album Official Track List:
1. “F2020” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos  
2. “woman” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Joey Hendricks, Michael Whitworth*
3. “I don’t really like your boyfriend” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet 
4. “rock in outer space” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet+
5. “dtf” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet, Jordyn Shellhart, Emily Weisband^
6. “space for you” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet^
7. “new strangers” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Jason Gantt
8. “parties” | Sam Backoff, Sami Bearden, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet 
9. “interlude” | Sam Backoff, Savana Santos
10. “different” | Sam Backoff, Savana Santos
11. “happy for you” | Sam Backoff, Savana Santos, Victoria Canal, Summer Overstreet
12. “this is goodbye” (featuring Summer Overstreet) | Sam Backoff, Savana Santos, Summer Overstreet
 
Produced by Savana Santos 
*Produced by Savana Santos, Alysa Vanderheym
+Produced by Savana Santos, Julian Bunetta 
^Produced by Savana Santos, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, Afterhrs