Elon University a cappella group, Sweet Signatures, releases album “Bitter Sweet”

After two-years in the making, Elon University’s all-female a cappella group Sweet Signatures released their fifth studio album, Bitter Sweet. 

Sweet Signatures was first established in 2001 by 15 women ready to entertain, compete in national competitions and further develop their love of singing, according to its website, and has grown into the reputation as Elon University’s premiere all-female a cappella group.  

Bitter Sweet, which released Aug. 31, is composed of 12 songs — four of which are live — and is available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Elon senior and music director of Sweet Signatures Morgan Hicks said their group puts out an album every two years. Bitter Sweet is the most recently released album since “XX” in 2021. 

“It’s a whole process of a lot of mixing and mastering and all of that but then we put it on Spotify,” Hicks. 

Sweet Signatures records their albums with Liquid 5th, a recording studio in Graham, North Carolina. Hicks said most of Elon’s a cappella groups, if not all of them, also record their songs at Liquid 5th.

Hicks said after the group has learned and perfected their songs, they go to the studio in Graham and begin recording the songs — a process that has taken over two years for Bitter Sweet. 

After recording comes the long process of mixing and mastering before the group can upload them to streaming sites. 

President Perrin Trask said her favorite song on the album is “Always Remember Us This Way,” with a solo by Grace Angelo. The group cried when they heard the final version of the song for the first time.  

“It’s a really fun arrangement, and we all love singing it,” Trask said.

Other songs on the album include “Kissing Other People,” “Best Thing I Never Had,” “Chaotic,” “Break My Heart,” “Traitor,” “Vienna,” and “Wildest Dreams.”

The song “Break My Heart” premiered first and has a music video on the Sweet Signatures Youtube channel which was released four months ago. 

Future Sweet Signatures performances include Rockapella on Sept. 30, Acapocalypse on Oct. 7 and their Fall Concert on Oct. 20 during Homecoming Weekend.