As Oso Oso, emo-pop singer/songwriter Jade Lilitri's melodic rock guitars and angst-ridden lyrics draw influence from Death Cab for Cutie as well as Taking Back Sunday and Brand New. After recording 2015's Real Stories of True People Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters... on his own, he recruited a band for Oso Oso's second studio album, 2019's Basking in the Glow, which marked the project's debut on the Billboard Heatseekers and independent album charts. They followed it with sore thumb in 2022.

Originally the arbitrarily named Oso Oso was solely the work of Long Beach, New York-based Lilitri, who wrote and released an EP, 2014's Osoosooso, and an album, 2015's Real Stories of True People Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters..., through Soft Speak Records. Wanting to embark on more ambitious tours, Lilitri enlisted a full band to join him, including the addition of Aaron Wims on drums. Subsequently, the group took part in the recording of the Billy Mannion-produced, pay-what-you-can release The Yunahon Mixtape in 2017, rejoining Lilitri for sophomore full-length Basking in the Glow in 2019. Produced by Mike Sapone (Taking Back Sunday, Sorority Noise), the latter was released on Triple Crown Records and made its way into the Top 30 of the Billboard Independent Albums chart while peaking at number five on the Heatseekers Albums chart.

The project's third album, sore thumb, was recorded by Lilitri (voice, guitar, bass, drums), childhood friend Tavish Maloney on guitar, and Mannion on piano, with all three co-producing. Maloney died in March 2021, before the album was eventually released on Triple Crown in March of the following year. ~ Marcy Donelson & Liam Martin