Say Anything’s Max Bemis shoots down unwanted comparison, clarifies lyrics meaning

Three days ago, Say Anything frontman Max Bemis tweeted out a simple “I wrote ‘Little Girls’ about emo.” The tweet about the …Is a Real Boy track brought in an array of responses, including one user who stated, “Jesse Lacey wrote emo about little girls.”

Last November, a woman accused Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey of sexual misconduct when she as a minor. A second user followed up on the Lacey comment, stating “And so did Max Bemis… ‘Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too’ is actually way more perverted than any Lacey lyric.”

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A third user chimed in to point out the In Defense Of The Genre track “Spores” is like that as well to which Bemis responded.

“Those songs aren’t perverted nor are they about underage girls, thanks,” he says. “Sex doesn’t equal perversion not that I really believe in that term. But I believe in right and wrong and my opinion on it stands.”

Immediately after, Bemis tweeted to all his followers not to compare him to the Brand New frontman.

“Don’t the fuck compare me to Jesse Lacey unless you’re talking about being skinny fat and rugged. I know more than you about him and trust me shut the fuck up.”

Late last night, Bemis sent out a string of tweets regarding the topic at hand. In it, he clarifies why “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” was retired last November as well as more on the reason for announcing Say Anything’s retirement this summer.

“Also going to keep reading this but I’ll end my discussion from last night by iterating some facts. A) I don’t like that guy for reasons that have nothing to do with illegal shit he did though that stuff is gross too B) “Wow” was not about an underage girl.

“C) I retired it because it was emblematic of a dark period in my life and if in any way it could be construed as comparable to the dark things coming out my peers, I was done with it, despite it being about normal things a lot of single people do.

“E) I retired Say Anything partially because there were misconceptions about me that I, to be fair, introduced into the narrative by making fun of all the creepy guys I knew and the dark side of myself which are completely distinct in the actions I’ve taken.

“F) I didn’t know about anything illegal until everyone found out I just knew I’m not him and there are PERSONAL things he’s done that I do not have to discuss but are apparent for anyone with a brain and especially those who weirdly defend him and have created his life-myth.

“And finally the purpose of tweeting any of this was to say my peace and clarify that I dislike any comparison between songs I created (an entire album recently) decrying [misogyny] with irony and actual dudes who creep me out. I am now done discussing. Thank you.

“*D) didn’t get sent but that was to say that unlike many of you I had to interact with these people IRL for like 15 years and if you are some [whack] Brand New Historian/Apologist you probably know why I in particular have negative feelings towards how he treated women.

“Also thanks to anyone sympathetic to me in general. You are making Twitter an OK place for me. The music or anyone’s taste has nothing to do with any of this. Don’t listen to mine if you prefer someone else’s…. that’s a whole other thing. And it’s awesome.

“Also I fucking hate that I spelled misogyny wrong not just because of which word I misspelled but because I am now trying to sell the idea that I am a writer now and am failing and still just talking about “Wow, I Can [Get] Sexual Too” on twitter and Long Island bro-dogs”

The future of Say Anything

This summer, Say Anything announced they were working on an …Is A Real Boy sequel titled Oliver Appropriate and ending the first era of Say Anything.

At the time, Bemis shared “A Goodbye Summation,” a 10-page document explaining how the album came together, the story he wanted to tell and why Say Anything aren’t exactly breaking up.

In his statement, Bemis shares his struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, PTSD and anxiety attacks. He continues to say that, although he can’t actually quit Say Anything, he’s “done being a touring musician.” So, this is just the end of “the first era of Say Anything.”

“I need a break. We’ll return one day to play festivals and scoff at our career. But I want to say goodbye,” he writes. “Say Anything is retiring in the sense that Jay-Z did. It’s not an indefinite hiatus or a breakup because that’s impossible.”

Say Anything’s upcoming album is a sequel to …Is A Real Boy. It follows a character, who Bemis named Oliver, 14 years after the first story took place.

“This record is the story of what would happen to the Real Boy many people thought I was. His band did well but then fell off, hard,” he explains. “He’d be my age, of course, but he’d still be living in Brooklyn, struggling with financial woes, single and strung out.”

Although he’s done with traditional music, Bemis teased there’s more coming from his project Song Shop. Plus, he will focus more on working with comic books.

Oliver Appropriate drops Jan. 25, 2019, and the album is available for preorder now.