This decision was harder than you might think.
Sure, on paper, I'm much more of a Tegan man. Her songs tend to be the ones that I gravitate towards, and her outgoing and more boisterous personality often has me agreeing with NOFX's claim that she is in fact the cooler one. None of this will come as much of a surprise to those that know me. And, as such, one would think that this ranking should be a no-brainer: Tegan then Sara. Easy-peasy.
Only it's not.
I mean, obviously based on whose entry you're currently reading, that is still the way it shook out in the end. But, I assure you, making a decision between the two was way more of a struggle than I was expecting, and again it had me questioning what my definition of a Lady Crush actually is. You see, if I'm basing this list on who I would actually get along with better in real life, despite my obvious love of Tegan, I think the answer would actually be Sara.
Let's put it this way, Tegan is like a Ferrari 458. Unparalleled performance, a lot of fun, and you have no problem declaring it as your favourite. Sara, however, is more like a BMW M5. Also performs very well, is still a metric ton of fun, and can't be faulted if you declare it to be your favourite either.
That said, it's still no Ferrari.
But a Ferrari isn't a BMW either. Particularly once you factor in that the BMW has a trunk, 4 doors, comfortable seats and every driver amenity that you can think of, whereas the Ferrari has ditched them all in order to save as much weight as possible and achieve that incredible speed that you enjoyed so much. So, which is better? The Ferrari is more fun than you'll ever have again, but if you had to drive one every day you'd absolutely take the BMW. The Ferrari would still be your favourite, but the BMW would be considered the better car.
Of course, neither Sara or Tegan has a drivers license, and would probably be as thrilled by that unintentionally-innuendo-laden comparison as Sneep will be about having to read about T&S for the next 2 weeks. But the point remains: on a list such as this, should preference be given to the best, or to the favourite?
The short answer is simple. At the end of the day, this list is, and always has been, all about favourites. And, while it may be an undefinable trait - awesomeness - Tegan has just that. She simply leaves me with a bigger grin on my face. Even though in theory, Sara might be a bit better - she's still very funny, maybe even a little bit smarter, and from a pure technical and songwriting standpoint, probably a better musician - she's just not my favourite.
As with most things, my reluctance to admit this is all because of pride. Everyone wishes that the best was also their favourite. That way, when someone asks you what your favourite movie of all time is, you can look them right in the eye, puff out your chest, and proudly say 'Citizen Kane'. And the other person will smile and nod, and commend you on your fine taste in cinema. You can't exactly do the same thing if your favourite movie is Dumb & Dumber. And yet, there's something charming about the guy that wouldn't hesitate, pride be damned, and say 'My favourite tv show? Cougar Town, all the way.' Even if you don't agree with him, I guarantee you'd rather hang out at a party with that guy than the one that says 'Umm, I don't own a tv, that sort of thing is way beneath me.'
But, we're not exactly comparing Cougar Town to The Sopranos when we talk about Tegan and Sara either. It's more like The Office (the American version) and 30 Rock. Neither is probably in the running for greatest of all time (tv show or musician), but I'm not ashamed to admit a fondness for either of them. And, although 30 Rock (Sara) is probably the better show, I still like The Office (Tegan) just that little bit more.
Of course, in a post intended to honour them, I think I just compared Sara to an ugly german sports sedan, and suggested that Tegan is the musical equivalent of Dumb & Dumber. Not exactly the flattering tribute that I had hoped for. In fact, they would have every right to be down right insulted by this post, except that I think only 4 people read this blog, and somehow I doubt that 'Eric Hoff' is a actually Sara's secret online pseudonym.
Proof of Awesomeness:
I feel kind of bad, because this entry ended up being more about why I like Tegan and less about why I like Sara. I assure you, my love of Sara is still very strong. I mean, number 2 is nothing to sneeze at, right? I also wonder what I'm going to write about next week...
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