With their new single “All My Exes,” My Side of Paradise deliver a refreshingly honest twist on the breakup narrative—one that trades finger-pointing for self-reflection and humor. The track, which features pop-punk legend Jaret Reddick of Bowling For Soup, blends earnest emotional storytelling with the kind of playful, energetic songwriting that has become the band’s growing signature. From touring the country with their Emo Kids project to channeling nostalgia into modern, high-impact production, the band is carving out a unique space that celebrates the past while pushing forward with honesty and heart. We sat down with My Side of Paradise to talk about the inspiration behind “All My Exes,” how the collaboration with Jaret came to be, the balance between humor and vulnerability, and what fans can expect as the band continues evolving their sound.
What inspired the concept behind “All My Exes”?
You hear people all the time go through breakups or talk about their exes, and they always blame them or call them crazy, but looking back on my relationships, I have been with a lot of great exes. In the end, it is me that has been the problem in all my relationships and if many of us are honest with ourselves, maybe our exes weren’t the crazy ones.
How did the collaboration with Jaret Reddick come about?
We tour the United States in a band called Emo Kids that does live emo nights, and our buddy Thomas Ian Nicholas (actor from American Pie and Rookie of the Year who tours the world doing American Pie emo nights), had a connection with Jaret. For the “1985” 20-year anniversary, Thomas got Jaret to repost our parody of that song called, “Emo Since 2005.” Later, we were invited to play a Wrestlemania after party where Jaret was one of the performers. He came up and sang two songs with us, including his WWE themed song, “Alexa Bliss,” and after the show we just hit it off. We eventually asked him if he would be interested to sing on a song by our original music project, and he agreed! All he asked in return was a donation to Punk Rock Saves Lives. Super rad.
Did you know right away that you wanted this track to be playful and humorous?
I had the lyrics written already, and it was actually part of an unreleased EDM song I did in my older project called “DrumDrop.” When I heard the music I thought it would be a perfect fit for the track. It had a really good fun energy that lent itself well to a more playful song.
How does this single fit into the evolution of My Side of Paradise’s sound?
This single is definitely more on our poppy side of things, which is why Jaret was such a good fit. We all have pop-punk roots, but we would not necessarily consider ourselves a pop-punk band. If you listen to our current catalog, we have quite a range, but we do tend to head towards more of a mix of poppy hooks and heavier music.
Which lyrics in the song do you feel are the most personal or relatable?
Honestly, the whole song is just a personal gut punch, but there are a few stand-out, meaningful lines to me. “Well, here’s where it goes wrong, I just can’t seem to move along, so they move on” “You won’t find the one forever being on the run, until you’re done” “If pieces of my heart belong to my ex to fall for the next, I need to make room.” – I would always be stuck from fully committing to move the relationship forward. Either caught up on old exes or wondering if there was something better. It stopped me from really pursuing what was in front of me. Of course the chorus wraps it up nicely saying, “All my exes are amazing and yeah it was me that was crazy. So now they haunt me in my dreams.” I was truly one of the main issues in these relationships not working and even to this day, I still have dreams of some of them. It still breaks my heart when I wake up and realize it was just a dream. I am trying to learn and move forward, though, appreciating what is right in front of me.
Can you describe the recording process with Jaret Reddick?
As you can imagine, Jaret is a very busy dude. After he agreed to be on the album, he had a personal issue, tour after tour including Warped Tour and with Simple Plan, on top of dad duties with his kids. Even though we said repeatedly that he could bail if he wanted without hard feelings, he assured us he wanted to do it and was committed. He actually did track it initially, but we had changed the lyrics slightly after he agreed to be on it, so he sang the old version. It was our fault I guess that we made it more confusing than it should have been, so SORRY JARET! Given the growing timeline, we actually decided to release a different song ahead of it called, “Lost and Angelless,” but Jaret finally freed up and was able to record it at his home studio. He actually agreed to do the music video as well, but after tracking said he didn’t have any more time. Luckily I had a concept that could be adjusted and had a wild idea to use AI. Not only did he agree, but he encouraged it. I don’t know many or ANY artists that would be comfortable with that, but he was. Speaks to how different and awesome Jaret is for sure. Be sure to check out that music video when we release it on Nov 21.
How do you balance heavier, cinematic tracks with more fun, pop-punk songs like this?
We are at the stage right now where we are just writing what feels good. Sometimes that is poppy, sometimes it is heavy, sometimes it is more cinematic. Will that change? Who knows, but we hope it is connecting with people that love the same music we do and maybe some that are new to it too. We may eventually lean into one style over the others, but I think we do like to write catchy, but also hit hard, Our live show is extremely important to us, so we want to maintain high energy, fun tracks in our catalog.
Were there any challenges or surprises while making this single?
We actually had completely different music for the verses originally. We kept banging our heads against the wall, but didn’t really like it. When we were writing in Joshua tree, Steve and I were alone in the kitchen working on it, while the guys were taking a break outside in the spa. I had written down a few things I liked that some other bands did, and suggested more of a dueling riff for the verses, I think inspired by a Pierce The Veil song, and it worked.
How do you approach blending nostalgia with modern production in your music?
The nostalgia definitely comes across in the inspiration of getting to play all these classic songs from the 2000s in Emo Kids all the time, so people will definitely hear a mix of all their favorite bands from the 2000s. We even notice things as we write, like “oh, something like Underoath, or that would be good like The Starting Line” etc. Hopefully that is something that makes our band unique to listeners. We have such a broad influence base in this project, it definitely creates something new while building on the old. We obviously don’t want to rehash the past though, and try to evolve the sound into modern day, and with our production team, we hope that is coming across. Got to shout out our buddies at Haven Studios in LA and our mixing engineer Chris Collier. Chris is an insanely talented producer and musician that we have worked with for decades in our other projects. He has been working with a lot of heavier bands lately like Korn, so he helps give us the heavy guitar driven sound that we like.
What do you hope fans feel or take away when listening to this track?
I really hope it puts a smile on their faces and realize that relationships are tough. We maybe should take some ownership of failures and not just lash out at our exes because we are hurt. We are all (mostly) trying our best. Just continue to live and learn, and don’t be too hard on yourself for shortcomings.
Is there a story behind the title “All My Exes” that fans might not know?
I wrestled with what to call the song for a while. I wasn’t sure if I wanted, “Exes” or “All My Exes Are Amazing,” but landed back on the original title, which kind of hides what the song is really about. Many probably assume it is just another shit talking song about exes but are pleasantly surprised it puts a spin on what may be a typical take on exes.
How important is humor in your music, and why?
I think it is different for everyone in the band. I don’t necessarily plan to write humorously per say, but I do like finding angles that aren’t typically taken in songs. There are a million slighted lover songs about exes, just ask T-Swift, but not many taking responsibility. I like finding those things that connect with people. But who knows, maybe I’m the only one that is the problem in their relationships.
If you could pick one live moment to perform this song, what would it be?
Haha, if all my exes were at a show, that would be pretty fun (if they don’t try and murder me). Seeing them singing along and laughing would be cathartic, probably for all of us.
How do you see this track influencing the next stage of your music?
I have yet to see how this track is received in the world, but as far as style I don’t necessarily think it will change what we do moving forward. This will definitely remain on the more poppy side of the things we do, but we will definitely continue to have heavier stuff and emotional stuff peppered in. Hopefully this track will also get a bit more ears given Jaret’s gracious addition, and it will springboard us into positions we wouldn’t be without his help, Either way, we couldn’t say enough nice things about Jaret, he is really a gem of a person and a huge influence in the scene.
Which other artists or songs inspired the style or vibe of this single?
I love bands like Bowling For Soup and Blink 182 that write more tongue in cheek lyrics, but the overall songs are again inspired by all these amazing bands we get to cover. Sam actually wrote the riff in a dream, so just inspired by all the bands we love and the sleep muse. That’s actually how I wrote the guitar lead for “Lost and Angelless” and many other songs too.
