In 2006, the duo Bitter:Sweet immediately gained a lot of attention with “Dirty Laundry,” the playful, sultry lead single from their debut album, The Mating Game. Blending trip hop with a nostalgic cinematic vibe, the band spiced their signature sound up even more by incorporating unexpected elements of jazz, 1950s pop, and swing. In 2010, after Bitter:Sweet put out The Break Up, Halligan began a solo career, for which she’s released an EP and two full-length albums so far. For the next several years, she also collaborated with various artists, including Nouvelle Vague and Thievery Corporation. But this year, Halligan is resurrecting Bitter:Sweet, with their comeback album, Baby Is Back, set for release on April 25. Leading up to that, Bitter:Sweet have put out the singles “Baby’s Back” and “Rise” (the latter of which features a gorgeous string arrangement by Serj Tankian from System of a Down). Calling from Los Angeles, Halligan tells The Big Takeover why she decided to bring back Bitter:Sweet, why she became a songwriter and performer in the first place, and how she knows trip hop is on the ascent again.
How does it feel to have this album coming out?
SHANA HALLIGAN: It feels so good! It feels like I’m back home and doing the music that I really am meant to be doing. And the timing feels really great, too. I took a lot of time to explore so many other musical projects. After the band broke up so dramatically, it was important for me to go somewhere completely else, musically and spiritually and every which way. But now, coming back to it, it just feels wonderful, and empowering, and right.
How did you know it was the right time to reform this band?
SHANA HALLIGAN: I wasn’t planning on it in any way. I’d really moved on. I just got a call from my old [record] label and they presented the idea that I could forge ahead and own the name again, after all of these years. It was really out of the blue. They were just kind of like, “Look, if you wanted to take this and run, go for it.” I was really surprised. And so I said sure. Within minutes I was like, “I know how to write this music – I know what to do. I’m supposed to be doing this.”
As you wrote these new songs, did you find that your songwriting process had changed in the intervening years, or was it the same as before?
SHANA HALLIGAN: So much of the time when I’ve written, it’s been 100% led by the music – the feeling of the music sort of dictates what I’m going to say. There’s some moments in this project where my personal circumstance really dictated what this album would say, and it’s a lot more authentic in that way. Because I think I enjoyed hiding in this character a little bit in the past, and now I’m really just being full on me. So that feels really good. And there’s so many different parts of us as humans, right? There’s so many different colors and flavors of all of us that I feel like it was really important to put in.
What inspired your vision for the band when it first began?
SHANA HALLIGAN: I remember going to see Portishead and Zero 7 and feeling really hypnotized by the beats and that feeling, and I really wanted that in my life. And so I’d answered an ad on Craigslist. Like, old school. And it turned out [the ad] had originally been [placed by] this producer that had worked on some Supreme Beings of Leisure music, which was in that ballpark at the time. And I was like, “Yeah, let’s try this.” Once I jumped in, we took it all kinds of places. My dad [Dick Halligan of Blood, Sweat & Tears] even got involved in a lot of the string arrangements and horn arrangements. We brought in so many amazing musicians and so many flavors at that time.
Just because you came from a musical family doesn’t necessarily mean that you had to become a musician, too – so how did you know that you should follow in your father’s footsteps?
SHANA HALLIGAN: Oh my God, I repelled [it] for years – I really did. I wanted to be a banker. Because my house was so crazy – there were jams and everything every single night. It was amazing in a certain way, but it was also so wild that I was like, “I am the opposite.” I wanted to be straight arrow. But honestly, I started singing on little jingles and things that my father was writing when I was little. It’s just been in my bones and blood my whole life. I could not escape it. I’ve been making music since I could speak. There really wasn’t anything else for me. [It was] just really, really organic, whether I wanted it or not. I am super, super grateful for that, as chaotic and wild as the rock star house could be for children. I still really am extremely grateful for all of the music that just seeped in there.
Do you remember the first song that you actually wrote yourself?
SHANA HALLIGAN: I was late to the writing party. I could sing – I would do session work and all this kind of stuff. Finding my own voice through everybody else’s voice. But no, I was kind of late to the party to start writing. I think I was intimidated because my father was this legend that everybody talked about, and I felt a little bit nervous to enter into the composer space. So I was probably about nineteen or twenty; I remember sitting at the piano and the whole song came out all at once in like ten minutes. From beginning to end, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. And I felt like, “Oh my God, I’ve just found it!”
Was there something that prompted you to do that or was it just spontaneous?
SHANA HALLIGAN: I was feeling really moody. I was about to start working with somebody in the acid jazz world, and I felt like it was really time for me to figure out what I needed to say instead of being told what to do and say and sing. And so I sat down really quietly, and I was blown away by how easily it all came out, since I’d never done it. And then I knew that I could only write my own music from that point on.
What do you think it is about your music with Bitter:Sweet that’s made it connect so strongly with listeners?
SHANA HALLIGAN: I think people really like the feeling of fun. I remember even in Seattle where it was grunge time, everybody [that came to Bitter:Sweet shows] was dressing up and putting on heels and really sexy dresses and making out. I’m like, “Let’s have a really good time and throw caution to the wind and embrace being feminine and all of the things.” And I think authenticity. I feel like there’s so much weird stuff going on right now in our country and world, all of it, that feels so inauthentic. I think being able to connect to somebody’s soul is important. And I like to think that that’s on the table [with Bitter:Sweet] for people to connect with and have fun with. And trip hop is coming back! When Billie Eilish first came out, I can’t tell you how many people were like, “Oh my God, she must listen to Bitter:Sweet.” And then she put us on a couple of her playlists and in her [social media] stories. I was like, “Wow! So it is coming back!” If Billie says so, then I’m in!
