Philadelphia’s Sweet Pill combine the sonic armaments of hardcore with the sugar-fueled anxiety of emo pop, resulting in an assured and distinctive sound that falls somewhere between Paramore and Circa Survive.

Founded in 2019 by vocalist Zayna Youssef, guitarist Jayce Williams, guitarist Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney, the band issued their debut EP, Lost in It, not long after forming. Just as their star was rising in the pop-punk and hardcore community, the band was forced into lockdown by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweet Pill re-emerged in 2022 with their first long-player, the Topshelf-issued Where the Heart Is, followed by a North American tour with post-hardcore veterans La Dispute. They inked a deal with Hopeless Records in 2023 and unveiled their first single for the label, “Starchild,” later that year. A series of EPs, alongside headlining tours of their own, filled the mid-2020s, with Starchild (2024) and Unraveled (2025) arriving in subsequent years. Taking a more collaborative approach to songwriting, the group issued their long-awaited sophomore set in 2026’s Still There’s a Glow. – Biography by James Christopher Monger