Junior VP have today dropped their new single titled ‘Red Cardigan’. Junior VP clearly missed the memo that modern indie songs are supposed to bury the hook under twelve layers of irony. Instead, ‘Red Cardigan’ proudly walks into the room wearing its heart on its sleeve and somehow makes sincerity feel like the coolest thing imaginable. Every shimmering guitar line, every soaring chorus, and every perfectly timed rhythmic punch lands with the confidence of a band that knows exactly what kind of story it wants to tell. Nostalgia is everywhere in the DNA, but it never feels like a museum exhibit. It feels alive, restless, and impossible to ignore.
The magic comes from the balance. Dreamy textures drift across the verses before giving way to a chorus that refuses to leave your head, while the rhythm section keeps everything moving with effortless precision. Junior VP understand that emotional songs do not need to crawl through the mud to make an impact. They let the melodies carry the weight, allowing sadness to glow instead of collapse under its own seriousness. It is the kind of songwriting that quietly sneaks into your playlist before becoming the track you somehow play three times in a row.
Ross Macintosh delivers the narrative with an honesty that never slips into melodrama. The story of a long lost first love feels personal without shutting listeners out, leaving plenty of room for everyone to project their own memories into the lyrics. That playful studio chemistry shines through in every corner of the arrangement, giving ‘Red Cardigan’ a warmth that cannot be manufactured. Even with its emotional core, the song constantly finds little moments of brightness that keep it floating instead of sinking.
If this is a glimpse of what Junior VP have waiting on their upcoming album, then expectations should be climbing fast. ‘Red Cardigan’ captures everything people fell in love with about the golden era of college rock and melodic indie while refusing to become trapped inside someone else’s past. It feels familiar for all the right reasons and exciting because it belongs to a band carving out its own lane. Junior VP are not simply revisiting an era they admire. They are giving it a fresh heartbeat, and ‘Red Cardigan’ is one of the strongest reasons yet to keep watching where they go next.
About Junior VP
Since forming in 2025, Junior VP have quickly built momentum. The band released their debut studio EP ‘Head Full of Sadness’ in May of 2026 which earned national airplay from the likes of BBC Introducing and saw the band shortlisted for Kerrang Radio’s The Deal competition. The band’s name is taken from the distinctly American position of ‘Junior Vice President’, paying tribute to the golden era of American college rock, emo and indie that inspires their sound. Through pop hooks and expansive guitar sounds, Junior VP blend the emotional immediacy of the early 2000s with a modern melodic edge.
“We can’t escape the music that influenced us growing up,” says vocalist Ross. “There’s a real 2000s nostalgia in our music that seems to connect with people who lived through that era and those discovering it for the first time.”
The band’s story stretches back far further than its formation. Ross and drummer Steven had played in bands together throughout their school years and into their university days before life pulled them in different directions. Fifteen years later, songs Ross had written during the pandemic became the catalyst for a reunion. With bassist Andy completing the lineup, Junior VP began recording the album that would become ‘Do You Feel The Same?’
Recorded at Glasgow’s now-closed Venice of the North Studios with Jamie Martin and mastered by Robin Sutherland (The Snuts, Swim School), ‘Red Cardigan’ is a patchwork of dreamy guitar flourishes, wistful melodies, razor-sharp drums and instantly memorable choruses that dress up a sad song into a slightly happier one, telling the story of a long-lost first love. Fans of Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World and Turnover will recognise the song’s DNA, yet Junior VP have created something wholly timeless with ‘Red Cardigan’, which would feel equally at home alongside the indie classics of 2006 as it does on a 2026 playlist.
Speaking on the track, vocalist and lyricist Ross Macintosh says, “I think this is one of the only tracks on our upcoming album that has three verses. We usually try to keep songs short, sweet and going in different directions but I really like the narrative that we managed to put together here. It tells the story of a sort of ‘long-lost first love’ and we hope it resonates, or at the very least that people find themselves humming along to the chorus afterwards. It’s a weird one because the chorus lyrics came whilst I was writing the melody, but I have no idea who Grace is… There’s a lot of playfulness in the instruments and magic moments that can only come from being in the studio.”
LINKS:
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