Junior Varsity is Ready to Face the Feeling

For Junior Varsity, there’s a lot to lose: love, freedom, youth. On their latest EP Ready, the LA-based duo (and sometimes trio) currently comprised of Greg Varteresian and Zach Michel choose to flip that feeling of loss on its head. Instead of grieving what once was, their outlook is lyrically cherrier, sonically drenched with optimism.

There’s inherent tension in the celebration of loss, in falling from youth into full fledged adulthood and all you must learn to endure along the way—monotony, long distance relationships, intensified responsibilities. But rather than mourn their loss of youth, Junior Varsity infuses melancholy with a childlike sense of wonder—one that makes growing up feel like a party you’re finally old enough to attend.

Ready is the product of Greg and Zach’s attempt to fill in emotional pot holes, to pave them over and chart a course forward. Their writing places feeling front and center. “Load up the feeling, it stops and starts again,” they sing on “Home.” “Holding your breath, you say you like the feeling,” they write on Lost and Found. “What you feel inside? Cold like a chill at night” they ask on “Shoestring.”

From sending songs across the ocean to new collaborators The Teenagers to framing love like an inescapable song on the radio, we checked in with JV to see how they’re feeling themselves in the wake of the EP’s release.

How do you each stay alive and extremely healthy?

Hydration, communication, and consistently having fun. That's the whole formula. If we're drinking enough water, talking through whatever's going on between us, and actually enjoying the work, everything else tends to take care of itself.

What are your songwriting rituals?

Most of it happens in Zach's bedroom, clothes all over the floor, the AC broken, the room about ninety degrees. There's this strange pressure in there, like our lives are on the line and we have to make the best thing we possibly can as fast as we can. That’s typically our creative environment, that slight discomfort is what pushes us to make our records.

What inspires your lyrics?

A lot of Ready came out of loss. We were trying to fill emotional gaps, and the biggest one was the loss of adolescence, coming into adulthood in full form, while also trying to celebrate and embrace that instead of mourning it.

"Radio" is about the monotony of routine in a long-term relationship. It's that feeling of a song on the radio that keeps repeating. You're addicted to it because it's a hit, but you also can't get away from it.

"Shoestring" is the back-and-forth between two people who are fighting for each other but can't quite get on the same page. A lot of the EP lives in those themes: the troubles you hit entering adulthood and adult relationships, and the lack of freedom that creeps in as you get older. There's a push-and-pull running through all of it—in the dialogue, in the melodies, everywhere.

How did you land on the title Ready for this EP?

The title is about truly embracing this new chapter of life. As things change, new areas open up—you're learning, you're growing, and Ready is us saying we're stepping into that head-on. Ready features a few collaborators, like Oxis and Unflirt.

How did you decide who you wanted to work with on this project?

Honestly, the future of JV feels really collaborative. Ready was the first time we fully explored that. Coming out of "My Star" with Brooke, we realized how well Greg's vocals sit sonically alongside female vocals, and this project was about expanding on that with other collaborators. We had a previous relationship with Oxis. With Unflirt, we were just fans, and one of our producers ended up connecting us.

What was it like working with The Teenagers?

Their album was on repeat for us these last couple of years, a huge part of our inspiration. They actually followed us on socials, so getting to work with them was a surreal moment for us as both artists and fans. It was a great, easy time: they're living in France, so we were sending the song back and forth across the ocean. We'll definitely do something else with them soon.

This EP is just the JV boys. How did you make the choice to pare it back down to just you two?

It unfolded on its own. Brooke took a break for her own personal reasons, and that became part of this overall theme of loss and melancholy that runs through the project, it ended up shaping the sound a lot. It pushed us out of our comfort zone, but it also ended up being really fun to go back to our roots: just Zach and me, making music together the way we started.

How did you build the visual identity of Ready?

I was playing a ton of the video game Arc Raiders, and got obsessed with the world they built. Each of the characters carries a mobile speaker backpack in this dystopian future setting, and that became the inspiration. We wanted it as a through-line for the whole project—the idea of carrying music with you through an imaginary dystopian world, because music is really for anyone and everyone.

Talk to me about what went into the production of this EP.

This is the fourth EP we've made, and the process of making a project like this is a lot looser. It's a handful of songs, so it feels more playful. We spent a couple of months just making a bunch of songs. The next thing we really want to focus on is an album that's deeply intentional from start to finish. That can be harder to build with an EP, so that's where our heads are going next.

You're currently on tour. How do you prep for shows? How do your personalities differ on stage vs. off?

We're the same on stage as we are off, just dialed up a bit. Greg exudes a lot of energy, and Zach is more reserved, the glue that makes the whole machine work. That's exactly how we function together in real life too, just without the spotlight.

Rumor has it Ready is Side A of this project. What can we expect from Side B?

A few more songs, ones that feel a bit more fun and energetic. We're actually working on it right now, heading back into the studio and leaning in that direction. So stay tuned.