Sing Street: The bEst band that never was

By Maisie Spofford

One of my all-time favorite movie devices has got to be that of the fictional-music-group-inside-a-movie. You may be familiar with this theme in cultural touchstones such as Pitch Perfect and Lemonade Mouth. Pitch Perfect has so infiltrated pop culture that I bet you can’t hear “let’s talk about sex baby” without singing “baby, all through the night I’ll make love to you” next because of their iconic riff-off in the first movie. And there’s just no arguing that Lemonade Mouth isn’t in the highest tier of Disney Channel Original movies (which is in itself the highest tier of film). These movies completely fictionalize how music is created and how bands are formed, but in such a satisfying way. Lemonade Mouth’s entire journey from being stuck in detention to selling out on tour is confined into a neat 1 hour and 46 minutes. While I expect that you, a music connoisseur, have watched these high-class music-themed films, Sing Street (2016) is a movie about a fictional music group that may have slipped under your radar.

Set in Ireland in the 1980s, Sing Street follows fourteen-year-old Conor as he navigates a new, brutal Catholic school and spontaneously decides to form a band after trying to impress a mysterious girl across the street with a tragic rendition of ‘Take on Me.’ Starting with a short red-haired boy with an accent almost impossible to decipher, Conor recruits a charming cast of characters to his band and starts to write music, under the guidance of his older brother. As the band develops, romance between Conor and his love interest Raphina develops. However, the lighthearted, coming-of-age story premise is complimented by deeper layers: Conor’s parents are getting divorced and running out of money; his brother Brenden feels he has yet to achieve anything in life; and Raphina lives in a girls home dating a man far too old for her. The film’s deeper emotional impact makes the music more meaningful rather than just for entertainment value.

The entire soundtrack of this movie is amazing, featuring a smattering of 80s hits from The Cure, The Clash, Duran Duran and more, as well as Sing Street’s extremely catchy original music. The story of music making feels authentic in Sing Street. While in Lemonade Mouth what starts as innocent finger tapping or humming leads to a fully composed piece of music within thirty seconds, the process of music making feels much more organic in Sing Street. Starting off by playing covers, Conor begins to explore music more deeply through listening to records with his brother and dressing in the style of different artists, until eventually he settles on his own distinct style. Inspiration for his songwriting comes from the experiences around him, such as in the case of ‘Brown Shoes,’ his diss-track on the school’s overbearing principal, Brother Baxter. Through making music Conor reflects on and deepens the relationships around him as well as his own personal expression.

In Sing Street, we also get a glimpse into the process of making music videos, phenomena we often take for granted now. However, music videos were revolutionary in the ’80s with the introduction of MTV. In the film, Conor’s brother Brendan and his father raise an interesting debate over the ‘validity’ of music videos. Watching the video for Duran Duran’s ‘Rio,’ Conor’s dad proclaims, “Well if this is the future, we’re all screwed aren’t we? I mean look at this guy, he’s not even singing live.” Brendan responds “It’s a video, Robert. It’s art… it’s the perfect mixture of music and visuals.” The exchange raises the question of whether there is a right way for music to be performed and consumed. Is music only authentically performed live? Do we value an artist’s actual talent or merely their image, or a combination of both? For Conor, image is important, as seen by his changing hairstyles and experiments with makeup. The visual elements of music video add another dimension of expression and allow for the artist’s vision to be seen as well as heard.

Like his brother, Conor is on the side of the video as art and attempts to make a music video as cool as ‘Rio’ for the band’s song ‘The Riddle of the Model.’ Conor has storyboarded the entire video, and with Raphina as the star, his vision comes to life. The product is a charming, home-movie style video with canted angles and cool gimmicks like Raphina holding up a mirror and seeing Conor singing into it behind her. 

Despite being a fictional band, Sing Street has range. From catchy, pump-your-fist ‘Drive it Like You Stole It,’ to romantic ballad ‘To Find You,’ Sing Street’s discography covers the highs and lows of teenagehood. Each song is a reflection of Conor at different states of growing up and looking for luck in love. This movie will leave you smiling back tears, but mostly with a feel-good warmth. If anything, leave the heartwarming storyline and just give it a watch for the impeccable ’80s soundtrack. I know you’ll end up staying for Sing Street’s motley crew and their original hits.