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“Special,” the debut single from newly formed band ME., doesn’t arrive quietly. Unflinching and emotionally direct, the track explores integrity, self-awareness, and the lasting imprint of toxic relationships, capturing the moment when reflection turns inward and accountability becomes unavoidable. “It’s about that feeling of losing something you can’t get back and trying to make sense of how it got there,” says drummer Mark O’Connell (one of two former founding members of alternative rock band Taking Back Sunday in ME., along with guitarist Eddie Reyes). “There’s frustration in it, but there’s also a lot of self-awareness. It’s not just pointing outward—it’s also looking inward.” “Special” is more than just a first single, it’s the origin point of the band itself.ME. wasn’t supposed to be a band, but the way it came together is exactly what gives “Special” its weight. “Special” serves as the first glimpse into ALL GOOD THINGS (out independently on July 24, 2026), ME.’s debut album: a record shaped by upheaval, reflection, and the complicated process of starting over.
Written initially by the two current (and former) bandmates as part of an open vocalist casting call, “Special” became the catalyst for everything that followed. Chicago-based vocalist Mike Jansen—then an outsider to the project—submitted vocals, melody, and lyrics to the instrumental song without knowing the full weight of the band’s history. The response was immediate. “It caught me off guard,” O’Connell recalls. “It felt like he understood the direction without us having to explain it.”
For Jansen, the process was instinctive. “There was no pressure at all,” he says. “I didn’t even know if they would hear it. I just wrote lyrics to the instrumental because it felt right.” The end result is a track that now defines the emotional tone of ME.’s debut: raw, confrontational, and deeply human.
At the center of the project are four musicians – O’Connell (drummer), Reyes (guitarist), Mike Jansen (vocalist and guitarist), Neal Amiruddin (bassist) – whose paths converged at a moment shaped by time, distance, and hard-earned clarity. For O’Connell and Reyes, the reconnection came after nearly a decade apart after both left Taking Back Sunday —not as a planned reunion, but as an attempt to finally understand what had been left unresolved from their past. “It wasn’t about timing in the industry sense,” says O’Connell. “It was about timing as people.”
Importantly, ME. is not a reunion. It doesn’t attempt to recreate the past or trade on legacy. Instead, it represents a conscious decision to build something entirely fresh with a different divergent. “We’re not trying to recreate anything,” O’Connell explains. “We’ve already done that. This was about building something that works for who we are now.” Reyes adds, “We are not the same guys we were 25 years ago. This is about growth. It’s about creating something new.” That intention shaped the band’s earliest creative decisions. Stripping everything back, O’Connell and Reyes wrote and recorded nine instrumentals themselves, no frontman, no hierarchy, creating space for the music to exist without expectation or outside pressure.
But “Special” changed everything. Jansen’s lyrics and outsider perspective gave the songs a new dimension and vocabulary, allowing the instrumentals to evolve beyond Reyes and O’Connell’s shared origins. What began as a potential collaboration quickly became essential. “At a certain point, it didn’t feel like he was contributing to something,” says O’Connell. “It felt like we were building something together.”
Not long after, bassist Neal Amiruddin joined the lineup, bringing both history and grounding to the project. A lifelong friend within the same musical orbit, his presence added a sense of trust and stability that solidified the band. “Your goal in life is to surround yourself with good people,” says Reyes. “Neal is good people.”
Together, these four distinct voices form ME.—a band built on trust, communication, and creative freedom.
Written during one of the most turbulent periods in O’Connell and Reyes’ lives, the album channels years of tension, estrangement, and personal growth into something cohesive and deeply honest. But that perspective is only part of the story. Jansen’s role proved transformative. Entering the project from the outside — newly married, grounded, and creatively energized — he wasn’t carrying the same history. That distance allowed him to interpret the music in a way O’Connell and Reyes couldn’t, giving voice to emotions they hadn’t fully articulated and, at times, reframing them entirely. O’Connell says it was a clarity that helped push the songs beyond reflection into something more expansive.
That dynamic (lived experience on one side, fresh perspective on the other) became central to the identity of ALL GOOD THINGS. Rather than simply documenting conflict, the album evolves through it, shaped equally by confrontation, reinterpretation, and forward motion.
The result is an album that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a progression—moving through conflict, vulnerability, and, ultimately, a form of acceptance. The title ALL GOOD THINGS reflects that journey. While it nods to the familiar phrase, the band reframes it as something more expansive: not an ending, but what comes after. What gets rebuilt when everything familiar falls apart. “At its core, it’s about survival, reinvention, and choosing to move forward,” the band shares. “Some things end, but that doesn’t mean the story is over.”
For ME., this project represents a rare kind of second chance, to approach something new with clarity and intention. “This is about doing things differently,” says O’Connell. “If we can do that, then whatever it becomes will mean something.”
ME.’s debut single “Special” is out now. ALL GOOD THINGS will be released independently on July 24, 2026. Album pre-orders available now here.
