Mom Jeans is a band that has performed sold-out tours across the country. Their first few years, however, were much humbler. In an interview with the YouTube channel Booze ‘N Tunes, Eric Butler, the lead singer, explained how Mom Jeans became the band it is today. The founding members, Butler and Austin Carango, met during their first year at UC Berkeley. They bonded over their mutual love for the Midwest Emo genre as well as a shared musical background. They dove into bands like Modern Baseball and Just Friends, listening to records, albums, and EPs as they dropped together in the dorms. After a while, they started jamming together and writing their music.
Mom Jeans was officially born in 2014. Butler describes Mom Jeans’ early work as “Modern Baseball rip-offs.” Modern Baseball being one of their highest inspirations, Butler and Carango based their writing on their music. Neither of the guys was very familiar with songwriting, and as Butler explained, it was a learning process. They used Modern Baseball and other bands of the genre as tools to help learn the process. Butler further explained that he felt the band didn’t find their style and voice until the release of their album Best Buds in 2016.
Best Buds was written by Butler and Carango and produced over several months. Butler told Booze N Tunes that the process was long because he was “bad at scheduling.” The pair rented one day in a studio and recorded all the drums and bass for the album in one session, with the drums taking only two hours to record for the whole album. They had sessions here and there for a few months while also working on some recordings in their dorm room as well. The album was finished and released in 2016.
When listening to Best Buds, it’s easy to assume the only inspiration for the album was a failed relationship or friendship. The songs contain themes of longing, grief, pain, and confusion, feelings often felt during the ending of a relationship. However, the album was written after one of Eric’s closest friends passed away. Jeffery Thomas Engler mentored Butler in marching band and supported Butler’s dreams from the beginning. He encouraged the band and loved all the music they had to offer. Butler used Best Buds as a “tool to breathe” during his time of grief, even releasing the album on July 3, 2016, Engler’s birthday. Although this album was mainly used, as Butler said, to cope with the tragic loss of his friend, the lyrics are diverse and can be interpreted in many ways, letting the listener apply the art to their specific situation and relate to the artist.
The diverse themes of this album make it extremely easy to relate to. Many fans claim Best Buds as their favorite Mom Jeans album. Since the release of Best Buds, Mom Jeans gained additional members, Bart Thompson and Sam Kless (who is also a member of the band Just Friends). The four wrote and released Graduating Life in 2017, Puppy Love in 2018, and Sweet Tooth in 2018. They released Bear Market in the early fall of 2023, which is a collection of some of their most popular songs, but sang and played differently. They finished up a world tour in 2023. Their current adventures include performing at When We Were Young Fest in Las Vegas.
The album opens with “Death Cup,” a song about trying to cope with a loss. The opening riff is mellow and comfortable. The first verse of the song (and album), “I think its bout time that I warned you I might cry in front of you,” prefaces the vulnerability the band displays with this album. The chorus sings, “What do you want me to say when I can’t tell you the truth? Please, tell me how the fuck I’m supposed to deal with losing you.” The first line displays a fear of vulnerability, the singer pleads for ways to get around, admitting how much he truly is feeling. The second line addresses this fear directly, also admitting confusion and pleading for the loss to answer. The outro features the band screaming along to the riff. The sound they produce is primal and raw, as if from a place of deep anguish, confusion, and sorrow.
The second song in the album features more upbeat rhythms in comparison to “Death Cup.” The first verse of “Danger Can’t” talks about moving into a new place and struggling to be comfortable. The following statement, “I’m getting kinda tired of facing all my fears at one time. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be fine one day” ties in anxiety about being in a new place and a struggle to see an end to the emotional turmoil. The second verse introduced themes of a lost relationship. Though the nature of this relationship is not directly defined, it is clear that this person had an intimate relationship with the singer. The verse sings, “I’m getting so tired of coughing out my lungs, and sticking out my tongue to catch the breath you stole the day you told me this was love and healed me with your hugs, and made me feel this might just not be doomed to feel so hard.” The reference to coughing and trying to catch a breath refers to smoking weed as a coping mechanism to deal with this loss. The singer is using this substance to try and find the same happiness he did with this person (“Catch the breath you stole.”) The outro to this song is arguably the most impactful portion, being sung loudly as if the singer is yelling at the person they lost. “It makes me kind of glad that you think about me late at night when you can’t sleep. And I’m sorry that you’re sad, but I can’t do anything for you anymore.” This line shows the singer knows this person will not return, but they find comfort in the thought that this person hasn’t forgotten him. The final word of this song, “anymore,” is drug
“Movember” is featured as the third track on Best Buds. This is a slower ballad that expresses what some would refer to as “the beginning of the end” of a relationship. This track features Sarah Levy as an additional voice. Levy’s section of “Movember” is the only female voice heard in the album. This insinuates that this song pertains to a romantic relationship. The first verse, sung by Mom Jeans, directly speaks to what is assumedly Levy’s character in the song. The first line sings, “Why you gotta be so fuckin’ mean?” clearly setting the accusatory tone for the song. The verse goes on as the singer asks to be left alone, followed by questioning if she truly cared in the first place. The verse ends with, “It’s just like back in time when you were five the doctor said you would be fine, but it still hurt, and I’m still sure it was just a little trick to make us feel alright” meaning that even now as adults, they are lying to themselves and each other about their feelings and relationship to try and make everything seem “alright” when deep down, they know it isn’t. Levy’s solo verse in Movember is short, yet equally impactful. Her first line, “Now I smell like smoke and I feel like shit” refers to how the relationship has impacted her. She feels dirty and physically subpar as opposed to how she felt at the beginning of the relationship. She ends with, “probably couldn’t hurt if we took a dip. Then I’ll finally be as clean as I felt back at eighteen,” expressing how she wishes to cleanse herself and return to how she was before. Levy and Mom Jeans join for the remainder of the song, singing the same words at the same time, although the message is still directed at the other. Lines such as “this is a problem that can’t get fixed with three drunk texts and one wet kiss” show how serious these issues are, while implying that someone had tried to fix these issues in that way. The song ends with, “If I were to grow a beard, stop drinking beer I fear you might not love me enough to make you stay,” repeating “to make you stay” several times. This expresses a fear that the relationship was only surface-level, and that they did not love each other for who they were, but for what they were at the time.
“Edward 40hands” is the most upbeat and “rock” song in the album. This song expresses feelings for a person using the analogy of cigarettes. The first verse ends with “’Cause I’m stuck on you like the smell of cigarettes on your flower dress,” introducing the fact that this person is a smoker. This line is followed by verse two, which talks about how desperately the singer wants this person. He sings, “I want you under my fingernails. I want you in my sleep and in my dreams.” He craves extreme closeness and intimacy with this person. The third verse opens with, “Now I’m addicted to cigarettes at first I didn’t let myself inhale, but smoke got through and so did you and now every burn hole smells like home” showing the association the singer has with cigarettes and this person. Initially, he was not a smoker, however, after a while he picked up on the habit, also developing feelings for this person, and now is reminded of them when he smokes. The bridge sings, “and I know it’s killing me, but that still won’t stop me. ‘Cause now we smell the same but you still kill me faster.” This shows how desperate the singer is to be with this person. He keeps smoking cigarettes because it reminds him of them, knowing it damages his health. Furthermore, he claims that the feelings and this person are more harmful than smoking cigarettes anyway. The song ends with the chorus repeated three times. “I don’t mind that you lie sometimes because I lie too. Guess I’m just like you.” Similar to previous songs in the album, this is sung loudly and harshly, almost angrily or desperately. This song is not as lyric-heavy as others on this album, however, through the analogy and musicality, it still emotes heavily.
Track five is the shortest song on the album. “*Sobs Quietly*” is about a long-distance relationship. This song starts as an apology, “Baby, I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way that I planned.” It touches on a specific memory of learning to drive their car and taking them to the airport. After presenting these memories, Butler sings, “But I miss you every minute of every day,” directly expressing his longing to be with his partner. This line is followed by “Tell me, why can’t you still make a decision?” where he pleads with his partner to give input on whether the relationship should continue or not. He also sings, “All I want is your voice in my head and your hair in my bed.” The song ends with, “I don’t know what I need to just tell me what you need. You’re all I need. Just please don’t make me.” Ending the song with a seemingly incomplete line is intentional and powerful. The singer doesn’t know if the relationship should continue or not. He feels as if he needs this person, but he doesn’t know if it should continue. The last line, “just please don’t make me,” is the singer inferring that he doesn’t want to decide to end the relationship.
“Poor Boxer Shorts,” the sixth track in the album, is a song about living with depression. The first verse sings, “I’m getting so tired of the inside of my bedroom. Force myself to go outside and get some light. Wear a T-shirt that’s not black. Get myself into the shower stay inside there for an hour barely get back home on time. I’m just fine.” The singer gives the audience a view into his daily life and how depression impacts his actions. He spends lots of time sitting in his bedroom, and even though he tries to make himself go outside and get away from the isolation, it doesn’t seem to help. The last line of this verse, “I’m just fine,” is a notorious phrase used by people with mental health issues. Instead of going into detail and admitting that one is struggling, it’s must easier to leave it with a simple, “I’m fine,” and move on from the conversation. The second verse related some of the depression to a heartbreak, singing, “You ripped my heart out and it’s hurting so bad.” This verse ends with, “I’ll be fine if this bleeding won’t subside, ‘cause it keeps me warm.” This powerful line admits the ironic comfort the singer finds in the heartbreak as if the pain reminds him that he’s alive.
Track seven, “Remy’s Boyz,” opens with what seems to be a breakup. “I found no humor in your laughter. It stole my breath and took real effort to get out of my head and out my lungs,” could be interpreted as a breakup happening real-time. This is followed with, “I love you so hard it hurts me sometimes,” showing how the singer feels so deeply for this person that he loves so intensely he sets his cares and needs aside for this person. The second verse questions what is being said about him after separating. He wonders what his former partner’s friends are saying about him and the situation. This verse ends with, “I’m sorry that I’m not exactly what you expected from me,” in which the singer apologizes for simply being himself because he wasn’t what this person wanted from him. However, following this, the singer changes his mind and sings, “I’m usually not this bad at saying that I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry, even if you think that I should be.” He fully embraces himself and rejects the idea that he should apologize for being who he is.
The eighth track, “Girl Scout Cookies,” is sung to a former partner or lover. The song opens with the singer admitting that he knows the relationship is not turning out to be what his partner wanted. He then sings, “But that doesn’t mean that you can disregard all of the things that you told me before,” acknowledging all the times his partner admitted love and/or appreciation for him and the relationship. He reminisces on the beginning of their relationship and how he can’t picture himself with someone else. His partner was seemingly tired of him thinking of all the good things in their past. The last line of this verse, “I think you should sit right there and think about how your words make me feel,” suggests the big impact this person has had on the singer and how he still values what they have to say to and about him. Verse two opens with a plea to reexperience his favorite memories with his partner. The line “take me back to water breaks and burning inside. Way back when we got high for the very first time” is sung with desperation, as if he is begging to go back in time and relive all their firsts. The outro implies that the relationship included a lot of drinking and partying. The last lines of the song, “but when the goat runs dry, what’s left behind is someone I don’t mind in dying with” show that he values his partner more than the substances. He loved them enough to stay after the partying and drinking was over and even admits that he wouldn’t mind taking this person to his grave.
The second to last song on this album, “Scott Pilgrim V. My GPA,” is a song about acceptance of a loss. Many of the songs before this were about the pain of losing someone and a desperate cry for the happiness that was felt before things went wrong. Opening with, “It’s hard for me to see exactly where the hell I went wrong. I never thought I’d see the day we wouldn’t get along,” sung in a slow and calm tone, the first verse elaborates on specific arguments the two had. His partner had issues with his marijuana use, while he had issues with his partner’s friends. The verse ends by singing, “But I’m happy here. I’m happy here,” showing that although he never thought the relationship would come to an end, he has found peace and happiness in the aftermath. The second verse tells the partner to “leave my sweater on the porch” and that he will “leave your bag under the stairs.” This shows that although the singer has accepted the loss, he still doesn’t want to see or interact with his former partner directly, even to have his belongings returned. He talks about their “old place” and advises his partner to not go there anymore, dismissing the emotional impact of their spot by saying, “It’s probably locked up anyway.” The outro repeats the phrase, “I sleep well alone now” eight times. The repetition could be interpreted as the singer trying to convince his partner that he is comfortable being alone, However, it could also be interpreted as him trying to convince himself that he no longer needs their presence to feel safe. This song also features riffs and accompaniment from the trumpet, an instrument commonly used to display victory, or the end of a battle.
The album ends with “Vape Nation.” This song expresses feelings surrounding all losses. Rather than focusing on one specific relationship, this song focuses on the singer himself, how his past has impacted him how it impacts him, and how he navigates current relationships. In the first verse, he explains the reason he puts so much effort into being nice is so “no one else will leave me behind.” He expresses how he knows it shouldn’t be difficult to express your love to your loved ones, yet he’s still haunted by unreciprocated emotions in the past, and struggles to be open. Rather than using words, the chorus is sung in, “bum, ba-dum, ba-dum,” with descending notes. The tone of this is calm and together, contrasting some of the desperate and angry tones presented earlier in this album. The bridge is written, “But I find the time to tell everyone I love that someday I won’t need them anymore, but that’s because they’ve given me everything, I need to be me. Let me be me.” Shows how he struggles to form lasting and deep relationships, as he has been hurt enough times to discover who he is, and that is enough for him. The song and album end with, “I’m not going back to my bed before I find a way to tire myself out. It seems like everything tires me out except trying to get some rest.” Expressing how exhausted and drained he feels every day. This is likely due to a combination of depression and the weight of failed relationships resulting in spending his days tired, yet finding it hard to fall asleep at night.
CRESCENT MAGAZINE © 2025
