SŌK breaks down its song “Jawbreaker”

Daniella Tello-Garzon, Reporter
October 2, 2020

The Daily Northwestern · SŌK Breaks Down Its Song “Jawbreaker”

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“Jawbreaker was just a nice word to encapsulate… this whole exploration of feminine identity that I don’t normally see represented in media… I might be cute and sweet, but also I’ll break your jaw, so know who you’re dealing with.” Alexis Ploan and her band SŌK are breaking jaws and smashing gender norms… all in one song. Sound Source went behind-the-song to hear how SOK’s latest single “Jawbreaker” was created. Explore the process and meaning behind the lyrics for the song in this episode of Sound Source.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Daniella Tello-Garzon, and this is Sound Source, a podcast tuning into music on and around campus. Before we begin, this episode contains explicit language.

The song you just heard is called “Jawbreaker,” and it was created and produced by the band, SŌK. SŌK describes itself as a progressive alternative rock band made up of four art students in Chicago.

In this episode of Sound Source, we’re gonna do something a little bit different. We’ll be focusing on the song you hear right now, dissecting the lyrics and sound.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: The songwriting process for “Jawbreaker” started with the riff, which guitarist Nick Bilski came up with.

NICK BILSKI: I started with just this. I brought that to Alexis. I think I came up with this part while we were jamming.

NICK BILSKI: This part I had, too, when we started.

NICK BILSKI: The rest kind of just came as we fleshed it out once we started jamming all together.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: The vocalist for SŌK is Alexis Ploen. She talked more about the process of creating a riff.

ALEXIS PLOEN: We brought the riff in to a practice session, and just jammed on it a lot and got a lot of these different sections that we thought were really cool. And then we kinda had to sit down and be like, “OK, this feels like a verse.” The lyrics actually came later. Our producer is really incredible, his name is Chuck Kawal. We would make a demo first as a band, and I threw in some harmonies that I thought were kinda cool, but especially during that chorus section, I really didn’t know what to do because the melody jumps around quite a bit. Normally, you have a harmony that follows the main melody, but it would have been too busy with that. Chuck had the idea of having these kind of “aaa” things going on in the background to add to that kind of psychedelic feel that goes on in the chorus.

ALEXIS PLOEN: There’s this one ascending line that you do…

NICK BILSKI: This part, right?

ALEXIS PLOEN: I thought it’d be interesting to have a descending harmony going on in that. So, the harmony actually stacks in each note. It’s deeper in the mix, but it adds a really interesting texture to it. That was a brainchild between me and Chuck. There are two lines in each verse.

ALEXIS PLOEN: Chuck had the idea of softening those lines a bit compared to the quieter, more rhythmic lines in the verse. We initially tried doing an octave down harmony, but that was too low. It felt too heavy. I had the idea for the other harmony and it felt nice, and it felt like it belonged there.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: Cameron Carlson is the drummer of the group. For the drum intro, he wanted to create a simpler beat to be the heartbeat of the classic rock-sounding song. Eventually, he came up with this.

CAMERON CARLSON: I was going for something — it’s obviously not crazy fast. If a drummer heard that, they’d probably know exactly what I played, at least for most of it, but added a little rhythmic flare, which was the groups of five in the last half of that drum solo. So, it was 16th notes and groups of five, and that’s more of a newer thing.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: Carlson also came up with the drum part of the bridge of “Jawbreaker,” which sounds like this.

CAMERON CARLSON: That drum part with the ride cymbal was very influenced by some metal music. But over the double bass it obviously sounds very metal.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: Jonah Nink wanted to ground out the song with his bass part.

JONAH NINK: Over the verses, I’m really just doing… Cameron is going at full speed 110, Nick’s going at full speed 110, Alexis is going at full speed 110, at some point you do need some kind of foundation to be on, so I tried to keep it simple. I actually didn’t have the part fully figured out until I started recording it. I recorded the bass part at my house just because of COVID. So, I tried a number of different things, but then I sort of realized this song needs something really stable under it. So I tried to be still “pop-y,” still kind of funky, not completely sedentary, but enough to build a nice foundation. But then the chorus parts. You know, the …

JONAH NINK: That part, you could go nuts, but I don’t think — to really make that moment hit, you need that foundation.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: Put together, all of the parts of “Jawbreaker” sound like this.

ALEXIS PLOEN: For starters, I wanted this to be like my boss-ass b—h tune. I wanted this to kind of be a pump up song for myself, and I like to imagine I’m squashing f–kboys while I’m singing it. It’s definitely kind of about being underestimated by a lot of men, especially in the music industry, and not just once or twice, but consistently, even after “proving yourself.” Sure, I might be cute and sweet, but also I’ll break your jaw, so like, know who you’re dealing with. I struggled with identity my entire life, and so, for this song, I really wanted to be like, “This is my idea of feminine.” And I can be dominant and masculine and feminine all at the same time.

ALEXIS PLOEN: So, I guess the opening lyrics of “Sugar and spice/Ain’t nothing nice about arsenic, cannabis, bloodshot eyes,” what I’m kind of made up myself. And “black and blue stains up and down my thighs.” I’m constantly covered in bruises because I am not a dainty little flower like the next line says, because I’m very clumsy, and that’s not traditionally feminine, you know? But then, still owning my sexuality, being like “Don’t you want to take a bite though, ain’t I still cute?”

ALEXIS PLOEN: I was always fascinated with the history of razor blades and the poison in Halloween candy and apples and stuff like that, and I thought it was a really interesting visual, but also a way to talk about a badass lady. Doing the form for this song was really interesting because there isn’t a third chorus; it’s just verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, but the instrumental is actually the chorus. They’re playing the chorus, and then I am just singing something different. And then there are the first two spoken lines: “A bottle of Bacardi, you’re just a chaser.” I like that line because it’s kind of putting a f–kboy in their place, you know or someone like that, and just being like,”I’m the s–t.”

“This tough chick is her own savior, don’t need anyone.” Well, I need like, friends and love, but I don’t need no man.

“All you pretty boys just love to hate her.” People don’t like other people who don’t conform to what’s traditional, what is expected for them. And for me that’s being confined to what traditional femininity or how a lady is supposed to act and all those kind of things. I thought jawbreaker was just a nice word to encapsulate everything that I was trying to communicate with this whole exploration of feminine identity for myself that I don’t normally see represented in media in a way that ever really spoke to me.

DANIELLA TELLO-GARZON: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Daniella Tello-Garzon. Thanks for listening to another episode of Sound Source. To learn more about SŌK and stay updated on upcoming shows, merch and music, go to soktheband.com and follow @soktheband on all music and social media platforms. This episode was reported and produced by me, Daniella Tello-Garzon. The audio editor of The Daily is Alex Chun. The digital managers are Molly Lubbers and Jacob Ohara. The editor in chief is Marissa Martinez.