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Photo by Haley Appell

Over the last decade, Sports has scored points for their groovy art-pop hits, but their newest record marks a defining era for the Oklahoma-based duo. Written, recorded, and entirely self-produced in a home studio they built themselves in Tulsa, the self-titled record Sports – like their band name, an ironic nod they use to jokingly tell their parents they “made it in sports” – marks a creative reset for the duo, returning back to the spark that first defined them as artists. 

The dream-pop duo wizards, Cale Chronister and Christian Therior, first met when they were teenagers, and their fourth album Sports recaptures the youthful freedom they shared back then. What initially presents as a collection of dreamy and psychedelic alt-pop r&b tracks charting the highs and lows of a romantic relationship gradually reveals a deeper complexity, where warped textures, double meanings, and subtle sonic distortions mirror the blurry interior landscape of self, identity, and connection. 

“Gravestone” opens the album with submerged textures, stereo-shifting vocals, and blunt lyrics: “you can put it on my gravestone” suggesting an attitude of thick-skinned defiance against outside judgements. This tension between the pull of external validation and the desire for self-liberation sits at the record’s core, flowing smoothly into standout single “Nice 2 Meet Myself (Bang Bang Bang).” In this track, the focus turns inward, searching for freedom through self-reflection as swirls of electronics, hypnotic rhythms, and dreamlike nostalgia blur the edges. At its center, is a battle with the self: “I just wanna fly / But all I ever do is shoot me down.”

The duo’s groovier side emerges in “If You Want Me,” driven by funky pulsating beats and catchy melody. Beneath its simplicity, the lyrics carry a hint of frustration – the longing to be understood by someone who doesn’t truly try to see you: “I just really want to get to know you / I just really want to get to be me.” 

From there, the record warps into psychedelic terrain. Hazy textures on “Magic Trick” blur the line between what’s real and imagined, questioning whether a connection exists at all. “Am I out of touch? / I don’t know what I was waiting for,” the pondering vocals sing before landing on the hopeful answer of: “something magic.” The tension develops further in the restless angst of focus track “Jelly,” where distorted sonics and lyrical malleability reflects the gradual loss of identity that comes from molding yourself to fit someone else’s expectations. The metaphor is simple but effective: “I need a mirror / I can’t see myself.” 

“Don’t Forget About Me,” channels the bright, angsty energy of early-2000s alt-rock angst, pairing distorted guitars with nasally, high pitched falsetto, leading the album to an emotionally vulnerable peak. This fragility comes into focus on “Drama King,” where over-obsessive thoughts are gamified with digital textures: “Do you love me, at all? / Am I being dramatic enough?” Meanwhile “Stay Mad” captures the quiet desperation of accepting conflict over abandonment. The bridge reveals a deeper plea: “I’m trying, trying can’t you see? / But you don’t ever notice it,” building up until it dissipates. By the time “I Can’t Cry” arrives, an emotional numbness has set in. Restrained lyrics disconnected from cathartic instrumental outbursts suggesting feelings too large, or distant, to fully articulate. 

“Metaphors” closes out the album awash in oceanic ambience, wavering vocal textures, and delicate arpeggiations. By scanning the world, the duo looks for signs – in sunlight, wind, sky, in language, and in feeling – for a love that is real and lasting: “I’ve been looking for metaphors for our love so I know it’s true.” The ending doesn’t resolve this uncertainty so much as embrace it, letting the album dissolve into space. 

On the surface, Sports is funky, melodic, and lyrically simple. But beneath lies a carefully constructed emotional landscape shaped by dualities of certainty and uncertainty, connection and distortion, freedom and constraint. More than a stylistic evolution, the album marks a creative turning point: a sound and emotional space the duo have fully claimed as their own.

Listen to Sports below: