Nineties Alt Rock, Thirty Years on: TMYS and the Hook of I Wanna Get High

A Self-Released Debut From Paris Writes in English and Builds Everything Around One Chorus

A debut single has one job and no back catalogue to lean on. TMYS, a new alternative rock project based in Paris, released I Wanna Get High on 25 September 2026 with no label behind it. The copyright line simply reads TMYS, and the song runs to four minutes and seven seconds.

TMYS’s I Wanna Get High now sits in the playlist below, and the band’s artist profile tracks their coverage to date. The single came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts. That programme verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Hit play, then read on for how the chorus was built.

Nineties Alt Rock, Thirty Years on: TMYS and the Hook of I Wanna Get High

I Wanna Get High Puts Its Hook Up Front, With a Chorus Built to Land on First Listen

First, the band’s own notes are plain about the priority. The single rests on a swaying rhythm and guitars in motion, and the chorus lands immediately. That is a craft decision. A first single cannot wait for a third play to win anyone over.

The writing language matters too. TMYS are based in Paris but write their lyrics in English, and they describe their sound as rooted in British alternative rock. They aim the release wide on purpose, at listeners in the UK, the US, Canada and France.

Lost In The Manor placed the track somewhere between the 1980s and the 1990s, and named Third Eye Blind as a reference point. However, the comparison fits the hook more than the mood. Third Eye Blind built late-90s radio rock on bright guitars and choruses that arrive fast, and I Wanna Get High works the same way.

The Lyric Leaves the Title Open, and the Band Want It That Way

Then there is the title. I Wanna Get High invites one reading and then refuses to settle on it. TMYS describe the song as something that can be heard as a search for intensity, release or elevation, and they leave it there.

In fact, that ambiguity is deliberate. Their own notes say the songs let desire, freedom and excess run together, so a line that seems obvious on the first play can turn into something else later. Every song, as they put it, leaves the door open.

The themes are the ones the project keeps returning to: the urge to escape, the rush of being alive and the sense that time is moving too fast. The title carries all three without spelling any of them out.

British guitar rock has used the word before. Feeder took a single called High into the UK charts in 1997, and that strain of melodic British alternative rock is where TMYS place their own roots.

I Wanna Get High Moves From Staccato Verses to Swelling Choruses Over Four Minutes

Finally, the structure does the rest. In the verses, the drums play staccato and the guitars keep to tight patterns. In the choruses, those patterns open out into swelling riffs, which is the contrast Lost In The Manor singled out.

Meanwhile, piano and synth layers sit behind them, and the band list those alongside restless guitars as the core of the sound. The synths came as a pleasant surprise to Lost In The Manor, and they add texture rather than taking over.

The length also helps the build. At just over four minutes, the song has room for the verse-to-chorus shift to happen more than once, and each return gives the hook another run.

TMYS handled the rollout the independent way. A private preview went up on SoundCloud before release day, and the single then arrived across the streaming services through one smartlink. The official video followed on YouTube on 4 October.

Coverage came quickly, too. Indie Treasure wrote about it within days of release, praising the style, the lyric, the playing and the voice. Lost In The Manor then included it in its rock picks in early October.

That makes the single a fit for listeners of melodic alternative and indie rock who like a chorus that arrives early. It also suits playlist curators building modern guitar sets that still look back to the 90s.

From the BestRock.News Curator Team: “The verses on I Wanna Get High are kept deliberately tight, with staccato drums and short guitar patterns, so the chorus has somewhere to open into. That contrast is the craft here, and it is why the hook works on the first play.”

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