Tears Are Just Glitter Turn Heartbreak Into Neon Pop Fantasy

Somewhere between a pastel sunset, a flickering VHS tape, and a synth line that feels like it’s smiling through tears, Tears are just glitter quietly steps into their own universe, and invites you to stay awhile.

The project is the brainchild of Stockholm-based hitmakers Gustav Jonsson and Fredrik Berger, two Swedish songwriters and producers whose fingerprints are already all over modern pop. Between them, they’ve written and produced for names like Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, and Icona Pop, the kind of résumé that places you firmly in modern-legend territory. But instead of handing every great song off to someone else, they decided to keep a few for themselves… just not in the traditional way.

Enter Gary.

Gary isn’t a frontman in the usual sense. He’s the face, the presence, the glittering avatar that allows Gustav and Fredrik to do what they love most: write, produce, and build worlds -without touring, press shoots, or the performance circus. As they put it, “The songwriting, the vocals and the music production is human. The artist is as artificial as artists usually are.” Gary is their solution, their pop vessel, their beautifully manufactured muse.

The debut single “80’s kind of sad”, which was released November 28, it feels like stepping into an alternate timeline where sadness came dressed in color. It’s a song about heartbreak back when it was theatrical, when getting dumped meant ice cream in bed, dramatic sighs, and blasting sad songs not just to feel something, but to look good while doing it. Before therapy speak and doom scrolling, there were dreamy synths, Japanese drum machines, and massive choruses that turned pain into something glossy.

Sonically, the track is pure technicolor nostalgia. It transports you straight to the 80s, sunshine and rainbows wrapped in melancholy, like hearing emotions in neon. The production shimmers, the vocals float effortlessly, and the whole thing feels slightly unreal in the best way. Reality isn’t crushing here; it’s optional. You’re allowed to sit with your feelings, style them nicely, and let them sparkle.

Gary sums it up perfectly: “The advantage of living a superficial life is that the knife of sorrow can’t cut you that deep.” It’s tongue-in-cheek, sure - but there’s truth hiding beneath the glitter. Sometimes art doesn’t need to heal you. Sometimes it just needs to make the hurt feel lighter.

With Tears are just glitter, Gustav Jonsson and Fredrik Berger aren’t chasing trends, they’re bending pop into something playful, self-aware, and strangely comforting. “80’s kind of sad” doesn’t ask you to dive deep. It asks you to float, to feel, and to remember a time when even heartbreak came with a good soundtrack.

And honestly? That sounds pretty perfect.