Buoyant in sound, aggressive in lyricism, and playful in demeanour, “Knicks Suck” by singer/songwriter Ski Team is a channeling of the pettiness that can come with feeling frustrated towards things.
Stream: “Knicks Suck”- Ski Team
We can all relate to that feeling of a favorite sports team or athlete having a continuous losing streak. Even if you don’t follow sports, you’re sure to have been around someone who has experienced this. With it comes numerous forms of pain: the pain in the war-like terminology associated with sports like archery, the pain of the humiliation (for player and spectator), and the pain of tediously hoping. But is this all not just part of the fun of sport, a form of entertainment in our daily lives? And are romantic relationships not just often a form of entertainment too?
The New York Knicks
Are a very bad team
But you won’t give in
Like you won’t give up on me
You’re a masochist
Used to being pissed all the time
If you’re listening
It sounds like a bad dream
No we’re not a fit
Not even on the same team
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Knicks Suck”, the latest single by New Jersey-based singer/songwriter Ski Team. Buoyant in sound, aggressive in lyricism, and playful in demeanour, the song channels the pettiness that can come with feeling frustrated towards things. Through the pain, there is a lightheartedness, a reminder that it can’t be taken too seriously.
“”Knicks Suck” is an ode to all the Knick fans who stick it out, despite years of torment from the team’s management,” Ski Team tells Atwood Magazine. “I’m jazzed it’s coming out just as the NBA starts up again, because really any basketball- even Knicks basketball- is better than nothing.”
The ode begins like a lullaby, slow twinkling keys tiptoeing beside a delicate drum beat, as though the repetitiveness and the boredom is putting people to sleep. But at the same time, there’s the perseverance of not giving up- the dreamy hopefulness of a happy ending. A guitar comes in and then there’s the sudden eruption of the chorus- lively, bright, and an encouraging of dancing. “Babe, you like the pain/ When you’re cut and scraped/ It’s better than nothing, better than nothing’ she sings, a hint of a smile upon her face.
While “Knicks Suck” represents the entertaining side to sport, whether it’s players enduring the pain of competitiveness and the losses and fighting spirit that gives them the drive to continue or the fans/ spectators who revel in the entertainment of watching these battles and struggles, it also draws light upon a dwindling relationship with a loved one. ‘Sweet babe/ It’s not gonna change/ It hurts when you lay here/ But it’s better than nothing, better than nothing’ she sings in a sing-song manner, accepting the disappointment in the same way acceptance is given to the familiarity of losing. “Under the surface, ‘Knicks Suck’ is about relationships that bring pain,” Ski Team explains. “It’s hard to quit things you love, even if they let you down.”
Now I’m checkin’ in
On your Spotify feed
I listen to the sad ones
Think they’re all about me
You’re a masochist
You’re never letting this thing die
And I got the box of photos
You sent to me
I went through one by one
Until I fell asleep
You’re a masochist
You know I can’t resist our old fire
I’m a masochist too
Ski Team is the moniker of Lucie Lozinski, whose debut single “Brother” (slow, melancholic, acoustic) was released earlier this year. The follow-up, “Don’t Give Up (Yet)”, was released last month, livelier but still with a sweeping sadness. Lozinski writes about relationships with people and places, an obvious topic but one that draws from her own unique observations. “Knicks Suck” is an extension of this, touching on the relationships between people and sport in a way that highlights the everyday emotion of them both, while also incorporating a more lighthearted sound that creates greater intrigue for what Ski Team has to offer.
As Ski Team tells Atwood, “The song is a pump-up and, hopefully, a lil’ moment of commiseration for New Yorkers.” But, whether Knicks fans, New Yorkers, or anybody anywhere in the world, we are all the same- finding pleasure in pain in some way. As the song goes, after all, ‘You’re a masochist’ and ‘I’m a masochist too.’
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Stream: “Knicks Suck”- Ski Team
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? © Savanna Ruedy
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