A Minneapolis band shared a song in progress. Fans took it from there.
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For lead singer Anni Coyle of the Minneapolis-based indie band anni xo, any time is a good time to make social content when they're that excited — even on the way to a show.
On a trip to a Winona gig after workshopping a new song, Coyle was beyond excited to share the partial demo via social media. They made bassist Maddie Thies swerve into a content-creating detour — literally.
Coyle had Thies pull off at a random spot in the road so they could jump out to make videos.
Thies remembers the stop to film left their boots covered in mud and made them late for the show.
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“Hunter was so worried,” Thies said, referring to producer and keys player Hunter SinClair Hawthorne. “They’re never late.”
Coyle posted a clip of the song featuring the side-of-the-road content everywhere, which garnered attention from fans that quelled any doubts about holding the song for a later release.
Questions about the song’s status plagued the band’s appearances to follow, but Coyle didn’t mind.
A lifelong musician, Coyle began writing songs in college, eventually forming anni xo. After playing together for a few years, they began work on another album, “Something Profound,” released in December.
The song that had them tracking through mud, “Passenger Seat,” became the second-to-last track. But for Coyle, it was the spark they needed to relieve a bout of writer’s block.
"I was really excited about it because I hadn't written a song in so long that it felt like I'd finally done something that I was proud of again,” they said.
“I was just excited to start sharing it. And sometimes I just can't contain it.”
How 'Passenger Seat' took shape
The band thinks back on Coyle leaking the song all over social media with a collective smirk.
The group can’t help but make each other laugh, especially when it’s related to Coyle’s contagious excitement and inspiration.
“Passenger Seat" was a song the band could all get behind. They found the groove right away and have barely changed it since.
“Obviously, people refine their parts a little bit and specific things, but the way we played it the first time we did as a full band is how it sounds live,” Hawthorne said. “That does not happen a lot.”
The song has a loose feel, with a repeated guitar line and touches of jazz, including a saxophone. But the lyrics are anything but light. The song draws on the emotional rollercoaster of breakups.
“It’s like an amalgamation of every breakup I've ever been through," Coyle explained.
It also pulls in moments like encounters with police, speeding on the freeway and other details that have stuck with Coyle in their 20s.
When the audience joins in
Once the song was released, it quickly resonated with fans. Its themes move between heartbreak and transition, capturing the feeling of being out of sync with your own life after a breakup. That mix has made it especially powerful in live settings.
It landed so well that it’s become a cathartic exercise for their fans to sing and sometimes shout a lyric — “want me dead”— which the band absolutely adores.
“We've all had those universal experiences of a bad ex, where you're like, ‘Yep, I need to yell this really loud right now,’” Thies said.
Thies says Coyle’s writing invites fans to participate through allowing them an “outlet for large feelings.”
“There's times to yell, there's times to think and have pensive moments,'“ Thies said.
“There's times to just be like, ‘I'm just gonna have a little feel-good moment here and dance.’ And it really allows you to have a grieving process in a goofy kind of way,”
"Passenger Seat" from the album "Something Profound" by anni xo is out now.
