Our dear friends from JAGUERO are back with “Lit,” a new single that quietly but decisively sets the direction for their debut full-length album. Coming out of Vicenza, the punk/emo band treat this track as a hinge point rather than a standalone release — a song that connects what they’ve already done with what’s coming next.
“Lit” was born during the early sessions after New Love (2023), their second EP, and unlike most of their stuf, it refused to settle quickly. The band admit the song kept slipping out of shape: earlier versions felt either too close to other artists or “too cheesy” for their own standards. Instead of forcing it, they scrapped and rebuilt it several times. The version that finally stuck came together fast — “completed in just a few rehearsals, simple and direct” — and that clarity was the signal to stop.
Lyrically, the song centers on human connection as a stabilizing force. As the band put it, “‘Lit’ is a dedication to that person who manages to see us even when we struggle to see ourselves, to the one who sparks that flame that gets us moving again even in our heaviest moments.” The track frames intimacy not as rescue, but as momentum — the thing that turns a fragile pause into movement.
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Choosing “Lit” to introduce the next phase wasn’t accidental. The band describe it as “catchy” and immediately recognizable as JAGUERO, while the rest of the new material stretches further away from their earlier sound. In that sense, the song works as a transition point: familiar enough to anchor listeners, but placed at the front of a body of work that allows for more risk.
Writing for a full-length changed the internal rules. With more space to fill, both musically and lyrically, the band leaned into excess rather than restraint. Doubts about overdoing certain sections were often met with a shrug — “Whatever, let’s do it anyway.” That openness shaped the record into something broader than their EPs without turning it into a concept exercise.
What hasn’t changed is their core approach. JAGUERO still write with live shows in mind, grounded in friendship and the energy of small rooms. Stylistically, they reject calculated shifts altogether. “We just don’t give a shit,” they say plainly, framing the band less as something that evolves by abandoning the past, and more as something that accumulates experience without erasing it.
Formed in 2021 by members of SLANDER, REGARDE, and LA FORTUNA, JAGUERO built their name through Worst Weekend Ever (2022) and New Love (2023), both produced by Maurizio Baggio at La Distilleria and released via Epidemic Records. Those releases were later compiled into a limited self-titled vinyl, opening the door to shows and festivals across Italy and beyond.
“Lit” doesn’t try to reinvent the band. It documents a moment where things clicked — emotionally, structurally, instinctively — and places it at the front of a longer statement that’s now in motion. Welcome back, guys!
