| Taylor Swift – Forever and Always (Piano Version) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I think the original version is like the aftermath of this, this is depression and sad and then the original is mad and asking yourself "why the hell would he do this to me?" and stuff. I have recommended this for people who have just broken up with someone (but the original) because this one is too depressing. But Taylor gets over things like me, my friends are the exact opposite. They just go straight to mad. I don't. So yeah. That might not have made any sense, but oh well. | |
| Aaron Lewis – Forever Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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When we spoke with Aaron Lewis in 2012, he explained that certain songs come to him very quickly, and he has little control over them. "Forever" was one of these songs. Said Lewis: "That song came vomiting out of me that day - the whole thing came out, just threw up. I didn't sit down with a pen and paper, I sat down and started playing the chord progression in front of the microphone during sound check. And the whole song came out, and it leveled me. I left the stage in tears. I went to my bus and cried in my bed like a little bitch. But the whole song came flying out of me. The song never even had a chance to go down on paper. Actually, I was messing around with a different song, and the chord progression for the chorus for that song, I just kind of re-figured it a little bit, just kind of changed it up a little bit, and that chord progression became the verses of this song. And it just happened. I stopped playing the cover that we were messing around with, which we never had any intention of playing, it was literally just to laugh at each other. I wasn't even really thinking about it, and the chord progression kept playing. And the next thing you know, Ben - the guy who plays with me on stage - started playing this killer lick on the pedal steel along with what I was playing. And it totally took on a life of its own, and within 30 seconds of us going around in circles on that chord progression with him doing that, the whole song came out." Regarding the meaning of the song, Lewis says, "There's self-doubt in relationships and there's a turnaround at the end of the song that exists now that didn't exist when it first came vomiting out of me." |
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| Aaron Lewis – Endless Summer Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is the first single from Staind vocalist Aaron Lewis's debut solo Country album, The Road. "It's definitely proof that I can write a happy song," Lewis told OC Weekly. "It was a straightforward and easy story to tell." Lewis first got into Country music as a child thanks to his grandfather. Kid Rock later revived his interest after Staind toured with him in 1999. The frontman told OC Weekly that he wrote each track for his first solo set while crossing the country with Staind. "It wasn't like I was writing a song for today's country radio. I wasn't limiting myself," he noted. "If a song came out, it would come out and go on the record." The song's music video futures a live performance and was directed by Jim Wright. Lewis explained why this song is so upbeat. "It's just the story of the weekend trips I take with my wife and my daughters to our little beach cottage," he said. "It's hard not to be happy when I think about that." This song finds Lewis singing about digging for clams and fishing striped bass with his daughters. "If we catch a keeper we throw it on the grill," he told Reuters. "The beauty of the adventure that I'm on now is I can write songs about stuff like that. I could never bring a song like that to the table for Staind." Lewis added that writing "Endless Summer" was a "refreshing and a nice change" from his metal past. "I remember having a big smile on my face the whole time I was writing it," he said. "In the past, what's usually coming up for lyrics is not smiley material. The song wrote itself in 10 minutes." |
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| Aaron Lewis – Country Boy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Aaron Lewis is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the post-grunge group Staind. This is the first single from his debut solo album, which he describes as being somewhere between James Taylor and his Staind hit "It's Been Awhile." When we spoke with Lewis in 2011, he told us: "I'm pretty damn proud of 'Country Boy.' Just because it's my story. And no matter how many of those things that are in there are cliché country things, they're true. And that's the difference. I love that damn song. I didn't go to Nashville and pick out from a catalogue of songs, songs that I felt fit the image that I was trying to portray. I wrote that song. I wrote all those songs. I mean, it is so old-school country, it's awesome. And then there's other flavors of it, too - there's still flavors there that are teeter-tottering. I haven't just completely lost myself in the country thing, if that makes any sense." This song features guest spots by Chris Young, George Jones and Charlie Daniels. "I've got to say that 'Country Boy' is definitely in the stylings of 'Country Boy Can Survive' (by Hank Williams jr.)," he told Billboard Magazine. "I'm not going to try and deny that correlation." Growing up in rural Vermont, Lewis spent summers with his World War II veteran grandfather hunting and fishing. "Country was the background music to my childhood," said the singer. "My grandfather listened to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr. and all of the greats. When Staind did our first tour with Kid Rock in 1999, I rode the bus with him on a couple occasions, and we bonded over this music. I haven't been able to let go of it since then. George Jones and Charlie Daniels are two of the genre's legends, and Chris Young represents the new regime," he added regarding this song. "It's definitely a personal, autobiographical song, and I'm very thankful that they all participated." The video features Jones, Daniels and Young in the studio and draws from Lewis' family archives. "The video really is me. This is probably the most I've ever participated in any video that I've been involved with. I added a lot to the mix to tell the story." When this debuted at #59 on the Country Songs chart dated February 5, 2011, George Jones became the first artist to appear on the list in each of the last seven decades. He first appeared on the chart with "Why Baby Why," which peaked at #4 the week of Oct. 29, 1955. The song debuted at #100 on the Hot 100 dated March 12, 2011. It marked Charlie Daniels' first entry on the chart, since "Still In Saigon" peaked at #22 in 1982. Though Charlie Daniels and Chris Young were in the studio the same time as Lewis, George Jones wasn't well at the time and had to record his vocals on his own later. |
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| Aaron Carter – Leave It Up To Me Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The song, written for the movie Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, talks about how adults think they rule the world and how kids know they can take charge with certain things. The video shows an example: it begins with Aaron on a school field trip at a museum. The tour guide is boring the kids, and Aaron finds a door that is off limits. He goes in anyhow and finds himself in a high-tech studio where he fools around. At the end of the video, he sees the fun is about to end when the self-destruct is activated. he dives to stop it, and that's where the video cuts off. This was written by Lucas Secon and Michael Power. Secon has an interesting past: he's from Denmark, and in 1994 had a minor Rap hit under that name Lucas with "Lucas with The Lid Off." He later became a successful Pop music writer and producer, working with The Pussycat Dolls, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and many others. |
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| Aaliyah – Try Again (feat. Timbaland) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This was featured in the movie Romeo Must Die. Aaliyah starred in the movie opposite Jet Li. This was produced by Timbaland, who also produced Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody," which was used on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. This got a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. This won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best Video For A Film. This was the first song to top the US charts on airplay alone, without any sales figures being included. It wasn't released as a commercial single until it fell from #1. In the December 2008 issue of Vibe magazine, there's an article about songwriter Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, who wrote this song. It mentions that Aaliyah did not initially like this song and another Static wrote for her, "Are You That Somebody?." She recorded them both, though, and they became big hits for her. |
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| Aaliyah – Rock The Boat Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is a very sexual song, using various nautical terms as metaphors for sex ("I love your stroke," "Let's take this overboard"). It was popular on the "Quiet Storm" and "Late Night Love" R&B radio programs. The video was shot in the Bahamas, and after the shoot, Aaliyah and 8 others were killed when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff. She was just 22 years old |
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| Aaliyah – More Than A Woman Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This was the first release after Aaliyah's death in a plane crash in The Bahamas on August 25, 2001. The song went to #1 in the UK charts making Aaliyah the first female to top UK charts posthumously. She was knocked off the top spot a week later with a re-release of "My Sweet Lord" by another deceased artist, George Harrison. The song also reached #1 in Ireland and Switzerland. The song contains a looped sample of "Alouli Ansa" as recorded by Syrian singer Mayada El-Hennawy. The song was co-written and produced by Timbaland. The music video was shot in Los Angeles in the summer of 2001 and features a pre-famous Mark Ronson as a DJ. It won the 2002 Mobo award for best video. |
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| Aaliyah – Are You That Somebody? Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Dr. Dolittle, starring Eddie Murphy. Aaliyah had a small role in the film. Timbaland produced this and did the rap toward the end. Aaliyah had previously worked with R. Kelly and Jermaine Dupri. She didn't write songs, but prided herself on being able to interpret them. Aaliyah was 19 when this was released. This was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal in 1999. The baby giggling and cooing in the background is Aaliyah at age 18 months. The sound was dubbed from a home video. The December 2008 issue of Vibe magazine includes an article about songwriter Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, who wrote this song. It mentions that Aaliyah did not initially like this song and another Static wrote for her, "Try Again." She recorded them both, though, and they became big hits for her. |
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| Justin Bieber – As Long as You Love Me Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Justin testifies how true love can overcome all circumstances on this Believe electro jam. He sings, "As long as you love me. We could be starving. We could be broke," which is a predicament the Canadian star is unlikely to encounter over the next few years. However, having experienced a childhood being raised by a single mother in low-income housing, Justin has experienced financial hardship. The song features a rapped verse from "My Last" rapper Big Sean, who is signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. label. This shares a title with a 1997 international hit by the Backstreet Boys. The pop band took to Twitter to remind Beliebers that they were first. "I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did #AsLongAsYouLoveMe," they wrote. Justin persuaded producer Rodney Jerkins to add the dubstep-heavy sonics after a trip to London. The Canadian singer got hooked on dubstep during a trip to the UK, where the bass-driven type of electronic music is all over the radio. Big Sean revealed to MTV News that on the same day he was recruited to work with Justin, the rapper got a call from an artist whose cussing content is the polar opposite to the Canadian pop star's PG lyrics. "It's crazy! I got a call from Gucci Mane the same day I got a call from Bieber and his people to do two different projects," he recalled. "It's tight that I can be a person that's so diverse that I can do both of those and it's not reaching. I'm still me... and I didn't compromise anything for Bieber. You know, I just didn't curse, which is easy. I don't have to curse every day." The song's music video was directed by Anthony Mandler, who has worked with everyone from Rihanna to Usher. Actor Michael Madsen, who has also had notable roles in movies like Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Sin City, stars in the clip alongside Justin and Big Sean. Michael Madsen plays the disapproving father of Justin's love interest in the visual and ends up beating up the star after he ignores his request to stay away from his daughter. The actor told MTV News that Bieber was more concerned about having it look real than scared to take the hit. "He was very respectful, very respectful and decent to me," said Madsen. "I think he wanted it to be well-done. I don't think he was blowing it off. I think that I've been around enough to know I can tell if somebody isn't really doing their job or taking what they do seriously. And I could tell from early on in the morning that he was. He wanted it to be right." |
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| Bruno Mars – Locked Out of Heaven Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The lead single from singer-songwriter Bruno Mars' sophomore album, Unorthodox Jukebox, features production by Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie and the songwriting/production team the Smeezingtons (Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine). The song finds Mars singing of a relationship that is so good the narrator feels like he was "locked out of heaven" before he met his lover. It debuted digitally and on radio on October 1, 2012 and became available for purchase the following day. During his Google+ Hangout on the day of the song's release, Mars was asked by a fan to name his favorite lyrics from the track. Mars picked the phrase "But swimming in your water is something spiritual," and later said that the single's exploration of feeling and being in love fits into the "sensual, sensual and sensual" theme of the album. Though critics have been quick to point out the song's similarities to some of the hits by the Police, Mars told MTV News he did not set out to write anything inspired by the Sting-fronted band. Instead, it came to him out of the blue, one night during his studio sessions prior to recording the Unorthodox Jukebox album. "I don't think it initially tried to sound like anybody else, but I picked up the guitar and just started playing [the song's opening chords]," Mars explained. "That's how it normally works; I'll pick up a guitar and I'll start humming a melody, and I started singing that, and I was up there in Sting-ville, in that register, so that's what you get... I tend to listen to a lot of guys with higher registers - Sting being one of them, Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder - because I've got a high voice." The song's stripped back music video was directed by Cameron Duddy, who also helmed the clip for Mars ' "The Lazy Song." The retro visual mainly features the singer performing the track in a club, with a few added VHS effects. "The concept is just old-fashioned fun. No story line, it's not me singing to a girl, you get a good sense of what you're going to get live," explained Mars to MTV News. "It's very VHS-y. I love that man, it takes me back to my childhood, when the tracking is off and the color is off, there's a beauty in that. You'd have to stand by the TV with, like, aluminum foil all over you." Bruno Mars performed the song live for the first time when he hosted and did double duty as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, October 20, 2012. |
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| Ke$ha – Die Young Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The first single from Ke$ha's sophomore album, Warrior, is a down-and-out dirty party anthem that was penned by the singer with Nate Ruess from Fun., Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco and Cirkut. Producer Blanco told Rolling Stone: "It's stomps and claps, and the chorus doesn't really have any drums in it, basically. The feeling is so good... And then the verse just pops in, and it's very unexpected and it pops into electronic. So it's rock, it's big electronic breaks and drums." The song premiered at radio and was made available at all digital providers on September 25, 2012. Ke$ha originally previewed the tune using a viral video clip featuring her bursting into song on the subway in Tokyo. Dr. Luke told MTV News about the writing of the tune. "This song was kind of one of the songs we were working with as we were doing the whole record," he said. "It wasn't like, 'OK, let's set out to do this.' We first had a different chorus on it, and it was pretty good. Then we did another one with Nate, and we liked the vibe of it better. I felt like what he brought to it, his world mixed in with production was an interesting sound, all the guitars and stuff. Ke$ha hadn't really done guitars before really in songs. On her last record it was a strict no-guitar rule." Regarding the song's meaning, Ke$ha told she told Carson Daly on 97.1 AMP Radio: "It's kind of an anthem. It's a celebration song, which I'm obviously known for writing those, but this one, the concept of it was to live each and every single day like it's your last and to always remain having a youthful spirit no matter how old I get." The song's music video has an apocalyptic theme: "Well it's about me being a cult leader at the end of the world," Ke$ha told UK radio station Capital FM. "And everybody else is kind of being scared and hiding. And we are running around like wild people, making out with each other and taking over a small border town in Mexico. And the federals are after us because we're so wild!" |
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| Rihanna – Hard Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is the second single from Barbadian singer Rihanna's fourth studio album, Rated R. The-Dream, who co-wrote "Umbrella," penned a few tracks for Rated R including this number. He told MTV News: "'Hard,' I want that song to explain itself. Most of the stuff I wrote - still to this day what I write - I try to find out through people - what they're going through or what they gotta say. Then we put that in." The song features Young Jeezy. Dream told MTV News that the American rapper delivered on his verse: "Oh, c'mon, he killed it! You know Young killed it," Dream smiled. "That's ATL right there. That's all we do." The Dream co-produced the track with his music partner Tricky Stewart. Rihanna explained to MTV News why she hooked up with Young Jeezy for this track. She said: "When I first heard the song, I was in Paris. Dream and Tricky, they flew out and played me the record. They played me a few [songs], but this one stuck out to me. It had such an arrogance to it, which is so far from who I am... which is part of why I wanted to do it. It was fun. It was bragging. A lot of attitude. Young Jeezy was the perfect person for the topic of the song. Just the vibe of the song. I love, love, love his verse. He added so much more to the record." When The-Dream and Tricky Stewart first played Rihanna this song they thought it would have too much of an attitude for her tastes. However Rihanna explained to MTV News it was exactly what she had in mind. "Funny enough, when I first heard the song, we were in Paris - they flew out there to play me some songs they had done for me, some ideas. And before they played 'Hard,' they were like, 'We're gonna play you the ghetto one first, and you have to do it, you have to do it," Rihanna laughed. "They thought I wouldn't like it, and when I heard it, I just loved it. It had such an attitude and a swagger... super cocky, and just a fun song." The song's music video was shot in Los Angeles with director Melina Matsoukas. Rihanna explained to MTV News its concept: "It's couture military. Everything is surrounded around the idea of something military. We have tanks, we have troops, we've got helicopters, we've got explosions. We've got lots of cute outfits, lots of bullets. It's crazy." This won BET's 2010 Viewers Choice Award, at the cable television network's annual salute to R&B and hip-hop stars. |
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| Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Men's Fitness magazine asked Rihanna if she really was a "good girl gone bad." She replied: "The title of the album represents my liberation. Being able to break out of the innocent image I was forced into. Now I'm just being me. I'm a little more rebellious. On the record you hear that I have a lot more attitude. So it matches the new sound, the new image, the new haircut... the new everything." | |
| Rihanna – G4L Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The title of this song stands for "Gangsta For Life." This track, which sees Rihanna sprouting a series of bad-bitch boasts then purring at the end "Revenge is sweet," was produced by London "dubstep" production duo Chase & Status. Saul Milton, a.k.a. Chase, told BBC's Newsbeat: "This album for her is just about what she likes and what she's into and what she wants |
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| Rihanna – Fire Bomb Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This piece of power pop is, along with "Rockstar 101," the rockiest track that Rihanna has recorded to date. The song was written by Rihanna, Timbaland protégé James Fauntleroy and the producer Brian Kennedy, who also helmed her hit "Disturbia." Lyrically the song appears to be looking back at Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown and their break-up after his attack on her after an argument in a rented car. Many of the tracks on Rated R appear to touch on her tumultuous relationship with Brown. She told MTV News: "This album is an expression of all those feelings that I went through in the last eight months, just different emotions. All of it isn't angry, all of it isn't dark and sad, 'cause I didn't go through that the whole time. That was part of it. It was really a roller coaster, and you get that when you're listening to the album." |
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| Rihanna – Farewell Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Rihanna closes her sixth studio album with this anguished ballad, in which she says goodbye to a lover. The song was produced by Alex da Kid, who also helmed Rihanna's hit with Eminem, "Love The Way You Lie." | |
| Rihanna – Fading Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Rihanna said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that this Ester Dean penned cut is the most personal song on Loud. She added: "It's about the end of a relationship and how you deal with it and move on." The song samples "One By One," a track performed by Enya from her 2000 album, A Day Without Rain |
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| Rihanna – Drunk on Love Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Norwegian production duo StarGate produced this song, which samples "Intro" by The xx. "Intro" is the opening track of the British Indie Rockers' self-titled debut album, which spent eighty-seven weeks on the UK Albums Chart and won the 2010 Mercury Prize, an annual music award given to the best long player from the United Kingdom. Longtime collaborator Ester Dean penned this song, which utilizes the oft-used love-as-addiction metaphor. The most obvious example of another song with the same topic is Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love." |
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| Rihanna – Don't Stop the Music Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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At around 2:35 this samples the chant "mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-koo-sa" from Michael Jackson's 1982 track, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Jackson originally borrowed the line from Cameroon Saxophonist Manu Dibango's 1972 song "Soul Makossa (Funky Soul Makossa)" without permission and was forced to compensate Dibango in an out-of-court settlement over it's use. 26 years later Dibango launched another compensation claim against Rihanna, as the Barbadian singer's use of the line came with permission from Jackson, but not the Cameroonian. This won the International Song Of The Year at the 2008 French NRJ Music Awards. This outperformed "Umbrella" in the French singles chart reaching #1, while "Umbrella peaked at #6. It also reached #1 in Australia where it became the first single to top the charts solely on download sales. |
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| Rihanna – Do Ya Thang Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This uplifting Pop number finds Rihanna telling a guy that she's okay with him checking out other ladies. The song is one of three on the Deluxe Edition of Talk That Talk to be co-produced by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, who is best known for co-writing her hit tune, "Umbrella." The-Dream told The Boombox that he "was more called in to fill in the blanks," on the album. He went on to explain that songwriter Ester Dean, who contributed to eight tracks on the record, "is locked in to what Rihanna's doing at this particular moment," and he's "at a place where you can call me in as a songwriter, but Ri calls me in as a friend that's going to make an unbiased decision, not just because I'm trying to get on the record." | |
| Rihanna – Disturbia Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This dance/pop track about being in a state of mental anguish was co-written by Rihanna's boyfriend at the time Chris Brown, who also contributed backing vocals. The other co-writers were Andre Merritt and Robert Allen who together with Brown comprise his songwriting team, the Graffiti Artists. The trio also penned Brown's hit "Forever." This was produced by Brian Kennedy who has also worked with Ciara ("My Love"), Jesse McCartney ("Runnin'") and Menudo ("Inside Out"). The video for this song was directed by acclaimed fashion photographer David LaChapelle. Among the other videos he has directed include "Dirrty," "I'm With You" and "The Voice Within" all by Christina Aguilera. This entered the Hot 100 at #18, the first single by the Barbadian singer to debut in the top half of the chart. This dance-pop song was Rihanna's fourth #1 hit on the Hot 100. It also topped the singles charts in a number of other countries, including Belgium, New Zealand and Turkey. L.A. Reid - the head of Rihanna's record company Def Jam, told MTV News that with this song, the Barbadian singer was taking control of her career. He explained that when Def Jam repackaged Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad, the second single from the repackage was this song. Reid added: "It was the first time that Rihanna actually came to me and said, 'Here's the song I want to put out.' She played me the song. That was her taking control, even on her last album. She understands what hits are, and she knows what she wants to say. She's at that place where she can do it." |
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| Rihanna – Diamonds Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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When I first heard it I thought it was tied as one of the most annoying songs ever! (As Long As You Love Me is the other one). Then I was like,'She's saying pretty much the same damn thing over and over again! Then I was like... Oh extasy is a drug! I get it now! |
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| Rihanna – Diamonds Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The first single from Rihanna's seventh album is a departure from the singer's recurring theme of an unhealthy relationship, as the Barbadian songstress croons of a bright love. "Find light in the beautiful sea. I choose to be happy. You and I, you and I. We're like diamonds in the sky," she sings. When asked about the mood of the song following her performance at the iHeartRadio festival in Las Vegas, Rihanna replied, "You're not sad. You're happy and hippie. It's hopeful. It gives me a great feeling when I listen to it. The lyrics are hopeful and positive. It's about love and the gears are different than what people will expect." The song was premiered on September 26, 2012 during Elvis Duran and the Morning Show and was made available for digital download an hour later. Sia Furler wrote the song. The Australian singer-songwriter has also crafted tunes for the likes of Christina Aguilera and Madonna, but this was the first time Rihanna had recorded something penned by her. Sia is also a performer in her own right, having released several albums over the course of her career, as well as providing vocals on hit singles by the likes of David Guetta ("Titanium") and Flo Rida ("Wild Ones"). This was produced by the Norwegian production duo Stargate and Benjamin "Benny Blanco" Levin. Whilst it was the first time that Blanco had worked with Rihanna, the Bajan star had previously hooked up with Stargate for a number of her hit singles including "Take A Bow," "Rude Boy" and "What's My Name?." Rihanna previously sung about love and diamonds when she pondered the existence of both on her 2011 hit, "We Found Love" ("Yellow diamonds in the light. And we're standing side by side. As your shadow crosses mine. What it takes to come alive"). |
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| Rihanna – Cockiness (Love It) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This sex-infused ode finds Rihanna relaying everything she wants her man to do when they get it on. The flagrantly provocative urban track was produced by Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford, who is famed for his filthy beats on Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and Ke$ha's "Sleazy." Bangladesh told MTV News the song originated a long time before Rihanna recorded it. " 'Cockiness,' it's layers of things I had sampled for a long time, never really messed with it too much," he said. "I was in L.A., and I had just pulled it out, chopped it up, made it a beat. My artist Candice Pillay, my other writers, Dem Jointz, they wrote the song." "It wasn't 'Cockiness' at first, it was something else," he added. "They had the 'I love it' part. ... [They] came up with that part first, and that wasn't even on that track: It was just an idea. I was going to make a whole new beat out of it, what they wrote to it that day, it wasn't really all the way done. A couple days later, they revisited it and came up with the 'Cockiness.'" Given its sexual innuendo and swagger, there was one person who immediately came to mind to record the track. "I was like, 'That's dope. That's Rihanna all day,' " Bangladesh said. "They sent the song back, and I finished producing it. I put the 'I love it' on it that they had already had. She loved it, and that's what it was." Rihanna recruited rapper A$AP Rocky for the song's official remix, which was premiered at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on September 6, 2012. The remixed track was released on iTunes the same day |
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| Rihanna – Cheers (Drink to That) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This grungy party anthem dedicated to a night on the town is a track from Barbadian recording artist Rihanna's fifth studio album, Loud. The song had a working title of "Drink It Up." Bet you didn't think Avril Lavigne would be sampled anytime soon, but this track samples Lavigne's 2002 ballad "I'm With You." As credit is given to the writers of the sampled song, "Cheers" was officially written by Stacey Barthe, Corey Gibson, Andrew Harr, Jermaine Jackson, Avril Lavigne and the record production team The Matrix, and the Runners produced the cut. Another Lavigne connection, another song on the album is called "Complicated," the same title of Avril's first hit. Rihanna told Spin magazine: "It's a song you would hear in a bar but I think you could also hear it all over pop radio. It's really grungy and melodic and catchy. And the way the producers sampled Avril – it's like she's an instrument. It's really cool how they combined [the song] with her vocals." Rihanna told MTV News about this tune: "I love that song. That is one of my favorite songs on the album. It makes you feel like celebrating. It gives you a great feeling inside like you want to go out and have a drink. ... People can't wait for the weekend." Rihanna added that though her busy schedule doesn't really warrant her having the weekend off, she still loves them. "I work all weekend, but I still can't wait. I still get excited about it being Friday, even though I'm not getting the weekend off," she explained. "I got to be up at 5 a.m. on Saturday anyway. I just like the fact that it's Friday. It's just something that became a habit, so you get that feeling Friday night [and] it doesn't matter what time you have to wake up on Saturday. You want to get excited about the weekend, you want to go out and have a drink with your girls, who have the weekend off." Rihanna told MTV News why the decision was made to sample Lavigne, rather than getting the Canadian pop singer to come in and re-record the vocal for the song. "I asked the same thing, but when I heard the track, it was already embedded in the music, so the producers already had it that way," she explained. "But it wouldn't have made a difference. It would have sounded the same. But I'm just glad that we could use her sample, because it became such a huge part of the instrumental that if it were not to be in the song, it would change the whole vibe of the song." Rihanna told Q magazine the "don't let the bastards get you down" refrain of this song is a riposte to, you guessed it, bastards. "There are always haters saying I'm too this and that. Bastards in the media. Bastards on the internet," she complained. The song's music video was directed by SRP Records founder Evan Rogers, and Ciara Pardo. It features footage from Rihanna's Loud Tour concert in Kensington Oval, Barbados, on August 5, 2011 and Avril Lavigne is seen raising her glass to the camera before being pushed into a swimming pool on a skateboard. Jay-Z, Kanye West and Cee Lo Green also make cameo appearances as all three performed on certain dates during Rihanna's tour. |
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| Rihanna – California King Bed Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This power pop ballad about a couple who sleep beside each other but feel "10,000 miles apart" is a track from Barbadian recording artist Rihanna's fifth studio album, Loud. After the darker sounds of Rihanna's previous album Rated R, which she recorded in the wake of her former boyfriend Chris Brown's violent assault on her, Loud generally has more upbeat sounds. However, this is one of the slower tracks the Bajan singer recorded for the album. Rihanna explained to UK radio station 95.8 Capital FM: "The ballads on this album are really special. I didn't want to just put a bunch of ballads on the album, I actually wanted to keep it minimal with slow records. But there are really two powerful ballads. One is called 'Straight Up Beautiful' and the other one is called 'California King Bed,' which is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's probably going to be the biggest song on the album." Rihanna explained the meaning of the song to Capital FM: "It's talking about being this close to someone yet feeling so far away, like falling out of love." At the beginning of March 2011, Rihanna asked fans to help her select her fourth single from Loud via twitter. They were requested to choose from "California King Bed," "Cheers (Drink To That)," Man Down or "Fading". The most popular choice proved to be this ballad, which was then released as the next single from the album. The Nivea company helped pay for the video in exchange for using the song in its commercials. The song's music video was shot in one day on a Hollywood stage in West Hollywood and is set mainly in a bedroom, but also on a tropical sandy beach. The director was Anthony Mandler, who is a regular collaborator of Rihanna. He told MTV News: "I think the song and the theme of this song, she wanted to obviously show a softer side, a lighter side, one that's caught in maybe a tumultuous relationship. But not let the tumultuous relationship dominate the visual, really counterbalance it with tension-filled chaotic beauty." |
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| Rihanna – Breakin' Dishes Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Two years after she recorded this song, one of its lyrics "I ain't gon' stop until I see police lights, I'm a fight a man tonight..." sadly proved to be prophetic, when Rihanna's boyfriend Chris Brown attacked her in his car in February 2009. The two singers started arguing after leaving a pre-Grammy party and after Rihanna threw Brown's car keys out the window, he launched into her, leaving the Umbrella star bruised and battered. | |
| Rihanna – Birthday Cake Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This 78 second, steamy album interlude finds Rihanna getting downright filthy as she expresses her desire to have spontaneous sex. In case you haven't noticed the cake in question is not one you stick candles on, but a metaphor for a certain region of the female anatomy. The Bajan singer is not the first pop artist to indulge in some birthday-themed naughtiness, though Jeremih was more upfront with the title of his 2009 hit "Birthday Sex." The song was helmed by The-Dream together with Kosine and Tuo, who are the production/ writing team known collectively as Da Internz. A full length version of the song was released in 2012 featuring Chris Brown. The R&B singer-songwriter contributed two verses; one where he's singing and another where he's rapping. It was the first time that Rihanna had worked with her former boyfriend since he beat her up in the street after a pre-Grammys party three years previously. The-Dream recalled to Sway on MTV's RapFix Live getting the original call from Rihanna about the Chris Brown featuring remix while driving in Miami. "I think I'm gonna put Chris on it," he recalled the Bajan singer saying to him over the phone. "I don't know which Chris you talkin' about, [but] OK, cool, whatever you say," was The-Dream's response. The-Dream had to come to grips with the situation once he came to realisation that the Chris she was collaborating with was the one who assaulted Rihanna three years previously. "She's pretty smart too. The same questions that went through my mind, and I'm an artist also, had to have gone through hers," he told RapFix Live. "When she raised the question to me, I know she's not crazy. So my thought was you've been thinking about this, you've already thought it out, so evidently you know what reaction you gonna get." The remix was recorded and fine-tuned quickly, so it could be debuted on February 20, 2012, Rihanna's 24th birthday. "Within like the last week-and-a-half [it was recorded]," the-Dream disclosed to The Boombox. "It hasn't been that long. It's quick. We had just finished it that day on her birthday in London. The remix marks the first collaboration from the two singers since their collaboration on the remix to Rihanna's 2007 single "Umbrella". Rihanna spoke to Ryan Seacrest on his US radio station KIIS FM about why she collaborated with Chris Brown on the song's remix: "I reached out to him about doing 'Birthday Cake' because that's the only person that really made sense to do the record," she said. The singer added: "I thought about rappers, and I've done that so many times, and the hottest R&B artist out right now is Chris Brown. So I wanted him on the track. Just as a musician, despite everything else, that was going to be the person." Rihanna admitted that some of her filthiest lyrics on Talk That Talk were written while she was without a man. Speaking to The Sun she said that her feelings of frustration inspired her sauciest songs. RiRi said: "My last album Talk That Talk was true to where my head was at that moment, like all my albums. I was having a lot of naughty thoughts - because I wasn't getting any action. That came out in the music." |
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| fun. – We Are Young Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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New York-based Indie Pop band Fun was formed by frontman Nate Ruess in 2008 after the break-up of his previous group The Format. He was joined by multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost of Anathallo and guitarist Jack Antonoff of Steel Train. The three seasoned musicians immediately wrote and recorded their debut album, Aim and Ignite, which was released on the Nettwek label on August 25, 2009. Fun subsequently supported various bands like Paramore, Panic! At the Disco and Jack's Mannequin and secured a spot in an Expedia commercial with their song "Walking The Dog." It's not always easy to be young, but it can be a lot of fun. This song captures the moments of youthful exuberance that come with a memorable night out - the kind of night you tell stories about for many years to come. Lead singer Nate Ruess says the lyrics were inspired by one specific night, after "my worst drinking night of all time." Ruess told Rolling Stone that he was kicked out of a taxi cab for puking all over it. "The cabbie was demanding all this money, and all I could do was stand on the corner with my head against the wall. It took me another day before I was a functioning adult and could actually write down the verses," he said. This is the lead single from their second album, Some Nights. The song features American Alternative Soul singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe, whose "Tightrope" was voted Track of the Year by UK magazine Mojo in 2010. Monáe recorded her vocals in Europe then sent them over to the band, who later in the year supported the singer on her Campus Consciousness Tour. The song had a surge in sales following its soundtracking of Chevy Sonic's 2012 Super Bowl commercial. The Some Nights album is a mixture of indie pop, theatric rock, and hip-hop, all sounds that can be heard on this tune. Guitarist Jack Antonoff told MTV News: "That song, to us, is like bull's-eye center of what we wanted to do with this album. It's a brilliant song to have out as a single, because it's saying all the things to people that we want to say. It's showing how, artistically, [the album is] different, it's showing all the influences brought by Jeff Bhasker, who produced the album, and all he brings from his hop-hop world, working with people like Kanye and Jay-Z. And it shows where we've moved with songwriting. And one of our favorite things about 'We Are Young' is that, if it's the center of the album, every song is sprouting out of it in different directions," he continued. "And if you like the song, then I think the album's just going to be a rollercoaster ride, because it just flies in every direction in and out of that song." When the song climbed to #1 on the US singles chart, Fun became the first rock band to lead the Hot 100 with its first entry on the chart since Nickelback reached the summit with "How You Remind Me" in December 2001. They were also the first rock group to top the tally since Coldplay did so on the June 28, 2008 chart with "Viva La Vida." This was the first Hot 100 #1 for Warner Music subsidiary Fueled By Ramen, sixteen years after it was founded by John Janick and Less Than Jake drummer/lyricist Vinnie Fiorello. The label's previous best chart placing had been the #2 position of Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race in 2007. We were surprised to learn that this was the first Hot 100 #1 with the word "young" in its title. The closest any "young"-ster came was when Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's "Young Girl" reached #2 in 1968. In 1957, when Billboard had the "Top 100" chart, a song called "Young Love" was a #1 hit for both Tab Hunter and Sonny James. Stylistically, this song fuses elements of Pop, Rock, and Alternative. It appeals to fans of Elton John, Queen, and Ben Folds Five because it mixes familiar catchy Pop hooks with grandiose choruses while still maintaining a deeper meaning within the song. It starts with a 9 second drum intro then jumps into a positive pop jingle with the lyrics "Give me a second, I need to get my story straight." The song is driven by drums and piano until the 50 second mark when it switches styles and turns into an anthemic arena-rock song. The listener is rewarded with two strong payoffs in the song: the sing-along-style chorus and the breakdown where the singer shouts "Carry me home tonight!" Singer Janelle Monae's contribution in the bridge also adds increased depth to the song from both a vocal and lyrical perspective. The combination of "artsy" verses, tight production, and straightforward, infectious choruses quickly engages the casual music fan and makes "We Are Young" a hit that stays with you long after you hear it. The song was the first ever to log seven weeks of 300,000 or more in digital sales. The only previous title to rack over four weeks of sales of 300,000-plus was Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie," which did so for five weeks non-consecutively in July/August 2010. The song featured on the TV show Glee during its December 6, 2011 episode "Hold On to Sixteen." It was performed after the end of Sectionals in the auditorium of McKinley High. The version by the Glee Cast debuted at #12 on the Hot 100 on the following week, spurring Fun's original to enter the same chart at #53. |
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| fun. – Some Nights Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Many of the lyrics on American indie pop band Fun's second album Some Nights are about frontman Nate Ruess' family. For instance, on this track he sings: "My heart is breaking for my sister and the con that she called love, but when I look into my nephew's eyes, man you wouldn't believe the most amazing things that can come from some terrible nights." The singer explained to Mesfin Fekadu of The Associated Press: "I'm always thinking about, 'Who am I and why did I do something like that?' And I think then it harkens back to my family, and I have such a strong tie to them and it's always therapeutic to sing about them." While writing for their second long player, the band were listening to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. So influenced were they by its sound and scope, they hired that record's co-producer Jeff Bhasker to produce Some Nights. Fun named their album after this track as they feel it best represents not only their entire record, but also where they're at as a band. "I think that the song 'Some Nights' just kind of sums up who we are as a band, and while it's über-personal, I think it gives people a lot of stuff to relate to. It's not a love song; it's a song about being an underdog and trying to figure out where you fall into that situation," Ruess told MTV News. Ruess came up with the title before he wrote the song. He recalled to Billboard magazine: "I think we were somewhere in Scotland, touring, and I told the guys, 'Hey, check it out. I want to call the album 'Some Nights.' I had no idea where that came from, but they were like, 'That is a fantastic name for an album!' So I had to start figuring out what that meant for me and write a song about it." Ruess added that he settled into a lyrical idea about "just being someone different on any given night." Ruess drew on Paul Simon for the musical part of the song. "I was thinking about Graceland, the Paul Simon album, for some reason," he told Billboard. "I had the chorus for the song and I didn't know what I was going to do with the verse, and I remember writing down, 'This will be the best song you've ever written' and was like, 'Alright. I guess I kind of have to challenge myself...' As soon as I felt it was an entire song I showed it to the guys and they were just like, 'We got it, let's go,' which was really exciting. That was the case for the entire album, too; I never had to explain myself. But ('Some Nights') was the first song that really happened for, and it kind of showed me that we were moving as one for the whole album." The Civil War inspired music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and features actual Civil War re-enactors. The weather was very much a factor during the shoot. "We look like we're having a grand old time and pounding away at the song, but those takes were few and far between this horrible lightning, crazy monsoon storm," multi-instrumentalist Jack Antonoff explained to MTV News. "So, we're basically in a big field - I guess technically on somewhat of a mountain in upstate New York - during a lightning storm, which arguably could be the worst scenario you could possibly be in a lightning storm." He took a pause, concluding, "I think in a weird way it added to the intensity of the video. Let's go on record saying it was life or death." The song expresses the anguish of a young man who is a long way from home, as he lies in bed at night thinking of his family members. Producer Jeff Bhasker said of Nate Ruess' songwriting to the New York Times: "He can tackle these really dark subjects and put this pop melody to it." |
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| fun. – It Gets Better Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The song's lyrics are about someone losing their virginity. It has been reported that the track was named after Dan Savage's 'It Gets Better' viral video campaign which was founded in response to the suicides of teenagers who were bullied because they were gay. One can presume, therefore, the lyrics refer to a person's first sexual experience with another member of the same gender. Fun guitarist Jack Antonoff is an advocate for equal rights and marriage equality, and he wrote in a blog on the The Huffington Post that he believes this issue is as important as the civil rights struggles of the '60s. "Being part of a band of three straight men, we felt there was an inherent power in the fact that we aren't gay, and yet we still care and we have a voice - there's a responsibility there," he said. "There are moments in history where it's vital [to have a voice] and anyone that is not standing up for the LGBT community is a huge part of what's holding them back." |
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| fun. – Carry On Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This lilting song is one of several tracks on Some Nights where frontman Nate Ruess' lyrics have an instructive element to them. He told The Village Voice: "I think there's a self-help element to the music that, I wouldn't say I'm super self-conscious of, but I've always found music to be very therapeutic for me, specifically, and the lyrics I write. I feel like a lot of it is just trying to convince myself that everything's okay. When you're singing those words every single night, you kind of start to believe it in some way or another. Kieran Kiely, who was once a member of the Irish Folk-Rock band Shane MacGowan and The Popes, performed the Irish drums and whistles on this track. The song's Anthony Mandler directed music video is set in Fun.'s home city of New York and features clips from their sell-out tour, the band drinking and singing in various bars and dancing in an empty Grand Central Station. "The idea is for the story to be the truth – playing a show, hanging out, getting dinner with friends. It's more of the reality of what we're going through these days," Ruess said of the clip to MTV News. "This video is a harsher look of the realities of what it's like to be Fun. – not in a sad way, but in a very honest way," guitarist Jack Antonoff added. |
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| PSY – Gangnam Style Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Park Jae-sang is a South Korean singer/rapper, who is better known by his stage name, PSY, which stems from the first three letters of the word psycho. PSY is popular in his home country for the satirical slant of his songs and humorous videos and stage performances. PSY attended Berklee College of Music for several years, before eventually dropping out. He told US radio host Ryan Seacrest: "I was at Berklee College of Music in Boston, but [I was] a freshman for four years. Class was too early for me. Yeah, freshman for four years – I was so fresh, ya know?" PSY is no stranger to controversy in his home country. He was arrested for possession of marijuana and fined nearly $4,500 and the following year his album Ssa 2 was banned from being sold to those under the age of 19. In addition, after evidence came to light in 2007 that suggested PSY didn't properly serve his full term of mandatory military service, he was re-drafted to serve a second term until the summer of 2009. This single was released on July 15, 2012. The song entered the Gaon Chart singles chart at #1 upon release, spending five weeks at the peak position. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 a couple of months later, giving PSY his first chart hit in America. The song title refers to the luxurious lifestyle associated with the affluent and trendy Gangnam section of the South Korean capital city of Seoul. (Gangham literally means "south of the river.") PSY compares to the location a sexy lady who knows when to be refined and when to get wild. The song has its own goofy dance, featuring comical, herky-jerky horse riding-esque moves. PSY debuted his Gangnam Style dance in the US alongside comedian Kevin Hart on September 6, 2012 on the 2012 MTV VMAs. The music video features PSY appearing in various locations around Gangnam such as a playground, an outdoor yoga session and a sauna. We also see some women walking backward, a popular way to exercise in South Korea. "With this video and director we kept on focusing on to be ridiculous as possible, that was our point," PSY told MTV News. "So we were so serious thinking to be ridiculous." PSY recruited Korean comedian Noh Hong-cheol for one of the scenes in the video, but his pal had no idea what he was getting in to. "He is a huge comedian in Korea and he didn't expect even filming this, he just came to the scene and he was there because he's a good friend of mine and he was there to cheer me up," PSY told MTV News. "We were suddenly getting on the elevator to move and to the next spot and I asked him 'Hey, why don't we make some film in the elevator?' and he did the dance move. This move is really dirty and really famous in Korea so I said, 'I'm gonna go underneath between your legs,' so it was really ad-libbed." This was not the first K-Pop (Korean popular music) song to enter the Hot 100. The first one to do so was the Wonder Girls' "Nobody," which peaked at #76 in October 2009. PSY became the first South Korean artist to top the iTunes Music Video Charts when the song's clip climbed to #1 on August 21, 2012. Following the initial success of the song in the US, Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun signed PSY to his Schoolboy Records label. Braun announced: "We've come to an agreement to make some history together and be the first Korean artist to break a big record in the United States." PSY didn't set out to conquer America with this song, but when the video went viral, he came to the States to promote it, charming audiences and talk show hosts throughout September, 2012. In addition to his appearance on the VMAs, PSY taught the dance to Britney Spears on Ellen, appeared on the Today show, and was part of a bit on Saturday Night Live. The clip for the song was recognized by the Guinness World Records on September 2012 as the "Most 'Liked' Video in YouTube History, having been liked over 2,200,000 times. At the time its nearest competitor, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" had 'only' accumulated 1,574,963 likes. PSY became the first K-Pop artist to make it to the top of the UK singles chart when this song climbed from #3 to #1 in its third week on the tally. The previous UK chart-topping single to be primarily in a foreign tongue was Yolanda Be Cool's "We No Speak Americano" in July 2010. |
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| Maroon 5 – Won't Go Home Without You Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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In the Daily Mail May 11, 2007, lead singer Adam Levine said: "It's about desperately trying to impress a girl and doing everything I could to make her listen to me." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England) The guitar undertone on this song is based on the bass line from The Police's "Every Breath You Take." Frontman Adam Levine admitted to The Guardian newspaper November 16, 2007 the influence of "Every Breath You Take" on this song: "[Every Breath] is one of my favorite songs ever written. I wanted to write a song like it. There was no way it wasn't a direct influence." Maroon 5's guitarist Kames Valentine added: "When Adam first brought the song to the band. It was like The Beach Boys meets The Strokes, because of the way the guitars were arranged. It's still like that in the chorus, but the turn came when we were recording it, and we came across that muted part in the verse. We were like, 'Should we do that?' And we decided, 'It's fine - it's an homage to one of our favorite bands.'" When Maroon 5 supported The Police during their 2007 Reunion Tour, they didn't play this song because of its obvious debt to "Every Breath You Take." Adam Levine explained in the same interview: "The song would not have turned out the way that it did had they gotten back together before we made the album. They were totally dead and gone, and were never going to get back together. And they announced their tour a week after our album came out. It would have been silly to play it." Actress Tania Raymonde (Malcolm in the Middle, Lost) appears in the video as the woman Adam Levine walks out on. |
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| Maroon 5 – Woman Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song is about a person being "beyond obsessed" about a particular woman; he simply is trying to figure out what it is that makes this woman the person in the back of his head. (thanks, Eric - barcelona, Spain) This wasn't in the movie, but was included on the album Music From And Inspired By Spider-Man 2. It could fit the storyline of Peter Parker's love for Mary Jane. |
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| Maroon 5 – Wasted Years Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This was originally planned for Maroon 5's debut album Songs About Jane, but didn't make the final track listing. A live performance at the Santa Barbara Bowl was included on the 2005 long player Live - Friday the 13th, but fans had to wait until the deluxe version of the band's 2012 Overexposed for a studio version. This samples the Little Richard track "The Rill Thing," which is a popular choice for artists looking for a beat. Pete Rock, Common, and Mos Def have sampled the track as well. |
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| Maroon 5 – Wake Up Call Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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In this song, a guy comes home to find his wife cheating on him with another man, so he takes out a gun and kills the guy. He feels no remorse for his actions, and seems quite relieved as his problem is solved and he has taught his girlfriend a lesson. A "Wake Up Call" is a phone call to make sure you are up in the morning - it's often requested by travelers in hotels. Since such calls are often startling and unpleasant, the term "Wake Up Call" has come to mean a revelation of some kind under adverse conditions. In the case of this song, finding his girl in bed with another was his wake up call. The video was edited in the style of a NC-17 movie trailer, with lead singer Adam Levine as the main character. At the end of the video, Levine is arrested and dies in the electric chair. |
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| Maroon 5 – This Love Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is about a guy who thought everything was good but was blinded by the fact that the relationship was going to hell. She's left him lots of times, playing with his heart, but this time she's not coming back. It hit him hard, and it's like a permanent scar. He did what he could to keep her, but she's just never satisfied. He's playing love like it's a game, not taking it seriously, which angers her and causes her to leave. He wants to fix what's broken, and make everything better again. He just wants to love her, because it's what they both want, but when she left him for good, it hurt him, and he doesn't know if he can go through it again. According to lead singer Adam Levine, this song is about how he was fed up with his relationship with Jane and how the record label was pressuring the band for more songs. (thanks, Kara - great neck, NY) There are 2 versions of the video, both featured vocalist Adam Levine canoodling with his girlfriend at the time, model Kelly McGee. The second version is a censored version where flowers cover nudity. (thanks, erourke - Raleigh, NC) Songs About Jane has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. Maroon 5 won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. The next year, this won the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2) The Miami Herald October 3, 2008 commented to Adam Levine that many of Maroon 5's videos are pretty steamy (such as this one), before asking the singer if he was consciously trying to push boundaries. Levine replied: "Well, I think there's definitely a sexual element to a lot of the music, so it would make sense that there would be a sexual element to the videos as well. It's all very natural to me. But yes, I don't want to just show a little bit of skin. I want to go for it. I'd like to get to the point where we could shock people. I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Stones and Zeppelin, but I also grew up listening to Prince, who was kind of a sexual icon. So I have a lot of different tastes I like to display. But yeah, pushing it is always nice. When people get a little uncomfortable, I have no problem with that." |
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| Maroon 5 – The Man Who Never Lied Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song, like several other Overexposed tracks, finds Adam Levine in a dysfunctional relationship. This time, however, he is the victim. "I was the man who never lied. Never lied until today. But I couldn't break your heart like you did mine yesterday," croons Levine. Levine penned the song with the collaboration of Brian "Sweetwesty" West and Marius Moga. Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy produced the tune. Brian "Sweetwesty" West is the lead guitarist for the Canadian band The Philosopher Kings. He co-wrote and co-produced most of the tracks on Nelly Furtado's first two albums, Whoa, Nelly and Folklore including her breakthrough single "I'm Like a Girl." Marius Moga is a well-known Romanian composer who is known as "Little Mozart." Moga owns a studio in Bucharest, Romania, but regularly flies to London and Los Angeles, working with upcoming artists. He also has placed songs on various movie soundtracks including the ones for Domino and 7 Seconds. Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy is a Los-Angeles based mixer and engineer who also worked on Maroon 5's hit tune, "Payphone." Other artists he has collaborated with include Gomez, Olivia Newton-John and Donna Summer. |
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| Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is about a guy who has a best friend who is always someone else's girlfriend. He knows everything about her and she runs to him every time one of her relationships goes bad. He keeps saving her because he secretly loves her. He'll do anything for her even though she hurts him by leading him on. He's waiting for her to realize what a mistake she is making with all the other guys. The video is more of a story about a man who is dating the daughter of a rich man. The rich man is married to a younger woman played by Kelly Preston. The characters played by Preston and lead singer Adam Levine and are having a secret affair. The album is named after Adam Levine's ex-girlfriend. He asked her permission to use the name. The album was produced by Faith No More's Matt Wallace. According to Teenmusic.com, Levine's girlfriend at the time, Kelly, was furious with Adam's love scenes with Preston, who was his favorite actress. "He said, "Kelly Preston is a woman I would love to make out with in real life. My girlfriend was less than happy when I did the shoot." In 2011, Maroon 5 partnered with Snapple and launched a new flavor of the beverage called Tea Will Be Loved in support of the hunger-relief organization Feeding America. |
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| Maroon 5 – Secret Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song was featured in the film The Wedding Date, which came out in 2005. It is in the scene where Debra Messing (from Will & Grace) and Dermott Mulroney (My Best Friend's Wedding) have an intimate moment, even though her character denies she has any feelings for her hired escort. | |
| Maroon 5 – Sad Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This piano ballad finds a heartbroken Adam Levine scared that the relationship is ending. He sings of his personal anguish and regret for being such a jerk. "And I confess that I'm only holding on by a thin, thin thread, I'm so sad," Levine croons. The vocalist penned the song with James Valentine, which was just one of four credits on Overexposed for Levine's usual co-writer and lead guitarist. | |
| Maroon 5 – Payphone Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This dance-floor filler is the lead single by the American Pop-Rock band Maroon 5, from their fourth studio album, titled Overexposed. The song finds Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine in a downbeat mood as he reminisces about a failed relationship. The song, which was produced by "Moves Like Jagger" co-authors Shellback and Benny Blanco, was debuted on The Voice on April 16, 2012 and released for download immediately afterwards. The song features rapper Wiz Khalifa, whose verse is more direct than Levine's despondent lyrics. "Had a really good game but you missed your last shot," he raps. "So you talk about who you see at the top, or what you could've saw. But sad to say it's over for it, phantom roll out valet open doors." "On our last record, we had a feature with Lady Antebellum, and on this one we did one with Wiz," said Levine to Rolling Stone. "There aren't many bands that can do that!" The song's title comes from Levine's line at the start of the song, which also serves as the hook: "I'm at a payphone trying to call home all of my change I spent on you." We're not sure where he found a payphone and why he didn't call on his cell. The 493,000 units logged by this song in its debut week broke the record for most digital download sales by a group over a 7 day period. The total was almost 30,000 more than the Black Eyed Peas, who set the previous best in 2009 with "Boom Boom Pow." Flo Rida holds the ultimate record with "Right Round's" 636,000 in February 2009. Maroon 5 had intended to pursue a "no guests" policy for Overexposed but the opportunity to involve Khalifa was too good to pass up. Levine told MTV News he was glad the band bent the rules to get the Pittsburgh rapper. "He's already so huge, but he hasn't really done many big pop records, actually, so just the idea that he'd be interested in doing it was enough to get him involved. It was too good to pass up," he said. "He's a wonderful guy, he's so creative and so quick... watching him in the studio, he was just so in it, within 30 minutes he had this incredible verse and he'd already knocked it out." The song's music promo sees Levine escape from a bank hostage scenario only to be pursued by the police across the Californian desert. "The video is this crazy thing; it's about a bank robber, it was actually an idea that I had, and Sam Bayer, who's a brilliant director is doing it," the singer told MTV News. "I work at a bank and I wear these glasses that are really a bit creepy and maybe make me look like a child molester. It's a real go-for-it, swing-for-the-fences video, I get brave and I steal a gun from one of the guys and try to be a bad-ass, which is weird, because I'm not a badass." Levine did most of the stunts in the video himself and he told E! Online all the clothes worn were from Men's Warehouse. "I didn't want any of it to seem stylized," he said. "I wanted it to feel as much like it was really happening as possible." In the United Kingdom, a sound-a-like cover by a collective named Precision Tunes debuted at #9 on the Singles Chart, a week before Maroon 5's version was released. Maroon 5 gained their first UK chart-topper with this song, having had a couple of near-misses. The group spent two weeks at the #2 spot with 2007's "Makes Me Wonder" and four years they were stuck in the runner-up spot for seven weeks without ever reaching #1 with "Moves Like Jagger." Asked by UK newspaper The Guardian why so many people relate to the song, given that they barely use payphones anymore, Levine replied: "I think in the age of the cellphone the payphone has transitioned from this thing we used to use on a very regular basis to this thing that is only associated with being used by someone under duress or in an emergency. If you're using a payphone that illustrates the point that you're struggling somehow or you've lost your cell. You're stranded. It indicates something much more than it used to mean, and that's kinda cool." Regarding the line "Fairy Tales are full of s--t," Levine explained to The Guardian: "I'm talking about fairy tales in general. The disillusionment one experiences through being let down by love. I think a lot of people would argue that some people are lucky enough to live the fairy tale. But then there are times when they wake up and think: 'his is all crap.' That happens to me sometimes." Benny Blanco told the story of the song to Artist Direct: "I was down in Virginia," he explained, "and two of my writers Ammar Malik and Daniel Omelio "RoboPop" were kicking it down there as well. They were working on ideas. They started this thing on an organ and sent it over to me. The first thing I heard was, 'I'm at a payphone.' I was like, 'Holy f--k, that's ridiculous. We've got to elaborate on that.' We tweaked it a little bit. I sent it to my friend Shellback. I was on a train to Boston, and he shot an idea right back. We tweaked it more. When we write songs, the lyrics will be nonsense with the melody at the beginning. We sat on it for a month or so, and it all came together." Blanco told Artist Direct about Wiz Khalifa's contribution: "I love it when there's a weird collaboration that doesn't make sense on paper," he commented. "I said, 'Wiz you've got to jump on this track.' Five minutes before he showed up, I realized I didn't have a beat for the bridge. So I made the beat really quickly. I want to catch you off guard. When you're listening to it, you have no idea he's going to come in." In peaking at #2 on the Hot 100, this became the highest-charting hit with the word "phone" in its title. The previous best had been Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's 2009 hit "Kiss Me Thru The Phone," and Lady Gaga's 2010 single "Telephone," which both reached #3. The song tied the record for spending the most weeks in the top three of the Hot 100 without reaching #1. It spent 15 weeks bouncing between #2 and #3 on the chart equalling the top three runs of LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live," Shania Twain's "You're Still The One" and Timbaland's "Apologize," which all peaked at #2. |
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| Maroon 5 – Out of Goodbyes Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This sweet, sad song featuring country trio Lady Antebellum came together in a single day in Switzerland. Keyboardist Jesse Carmichael told Rolling Stone: "We're excited for a lot of new people to hear our band through that song." | |
| Maroon 5 – One More Night Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This Reggae tinged tune was released as the second single by Maroon 5, from their fourth studio album, Overexposed. Despite its sunny production, lyrically the track is quite dark with Levine crooning lyrics about being guilt-ridden about his part in a dysfunctional relationship, but still wanting to spend "one more night" together. The song was premiered by the band on May 18, 2012, at the Revel Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, USA and was released on June 19, 2012. Levine penned the song with Texas songwriter Savan Kotecha (One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful") and it was produced by the Swedish hitmaking duo of Shellback and Max Martin. Shellback also contributed to Maroon 5's previous two singles "Moves Like Jagger" and "Payphone," whilst Martin oversaw the Overexposed album project. It was Gwen Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. that persuaded Levine to get some outside help on the album. He told UK newspaper The Sun: "She's amazing and had that fearless approach to recording with all of the best people in the business. And her record was incredible, because she had the courage to step outside her comfort zone. So we said, 'Why not try something completely different that could totally radicalise the idea of who we are?' And I think Max Martin is an absolute genius. I took him aside and asked him if he would be executive producer. There aren't many guys out there who can write amazing music but also who people respect enough to allow to be at the helm of the operation." The song's music video was directed by Peter Berg who is responsible for such films as The song was Maroon 5's third #1 on the Hot 100 following "Makes Me Wonder" in 2007 and "Moves Like Jagger" in 2011. An entirely different "One More Night" previously reached the Hot 100 summit. A Phil Collins composition of the same name spent two weeks at #1 in 1985. |
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| Maroon 5 – Never Gonna Leave This Bed Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Frontman Adam Levine wrote this song after a "weekend bender." He told The Sun September 17, 2010: "I was totally depleted and got home, picked up a guitar and started writing this song. It's my favourite on the record. It's the most honest. It reflects a desperate longing to have somebody in my life, which I didn't at the time." | |
| Maroon 5 – Must Get Out Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song is about a guy who loves a girl and is telling her how he's patiently waiting to hear her tell him she loves him too. He is also describing what he's doing in the meantime while he's waiting for her to confess to him. | |
| Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This electro-pop track is billed as "Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera," though the latter actually does very little, only coming in at the bridge after two minutes. The song was released on June 21, 2011 in conjunction with a live performance on The Voice. Both Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and Aguilera are coaches on the show. For this song, their vocals were both Auto-Tuned, although it was used more for effect here than for pitch correction. The song's lyrics refer to the narrator's ability to impress a female with his dance moves, which he compares to those of legendary Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger. Hitmakers Benny Blanco ("TiK ToK") and frequent Max Martin collaborator Shellback helped pen the tune. The Rolling Stone frontman has been name-checked on several other tunes. Ke$ha's 2010 #1 "TiK ToK" includes the lyric, "We kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger!," whilst Michelle Branch's 2011 single, "Loud Music" urges the object of her affection to "start me up, like a Rolling Stone." Also the debut single of Cher Lloyd, who finished in fourth place on the 2010 series of UK's The X Factor was titled "Swagger Jagger." Adam Levine told MTV News why he likes to move like the veteran Stones' frontman: "I've been a student at the Jagger School of Interesting Movement for 17 years. I'm graduating next fall, with honors," he said. "[His moves are] a very carefully calculated, but slightly spastic, incredible rhythmic experience, in which all of your limbs and every bone in your body is moving at completely different times, and it's impossible to re-create. Nobody has moves like Jagger, that's kind of the point. That's why the song is so fun, it's fun to try." The song's music video was directed by Jonas Ã…kerlund and filmed in Los Angeles on July 8, 2011. In the clip we see Jagger impersonators including Levine auditioning their best dance moves, while old video footage of the Rolling Stone frontman plays in the background.. However, when Aguilera makes her brief appearance, we don't see her move like Jagger. Structurally, this song goes intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. What's interesting is that each verse and chorus are exactly 30 seconds long, and the intro and bridge are :15, making it a very symmetrical song. Note that each chorus is split in half as well, with the drums dropping out halfway in when Levine sings "Like Jagger." This happens on the first two choruses, but not the third. The verses take up a full minute, which is longer than most Pop songs of the time. The distinctive elements of the song are the whistling and the jangling guitar line that both start on the intro and play throughout the song. The whistling makes the song particularly infectious, as very few popular songs use this element and it identifies the song immediately. Check out the clever songwriting trick in the lyrics: the word "you" both begins and ends a line in the chorus - "Kiss me 'til your drunk and I'll show YOU want the moves like Jagger." When this song climbed to #1 on the Hot 100, Mick Jagger became the first artist to have both topped the Hot 100 (as lead singer of the Rolling Stones) and be name-checked in the title of a #1 by another act. This was not the first #1 to name-check the legendary rocker. He was previously mentioned in Ke$ha's 2010 chart-topper "TiK ToK": "We kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger!" Other hit singles to mention the Rolling Stones star in their lyrics include: 1989 "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc. 2008 "Swagga Like Us" by T.I. and Jay-Z featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne. 2010 "'The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas. Jagger was also the title subject of the 2011 UK #1 "Swagger Jagger" by X Factor finalist Cher Lloyd. Can you name the previous Hot 100 to name-check an actual person in the song title prior to this? In 2007 Soulja Boy referenced himself on his chart-topper "Crank That (Soulja Boy)." If you don't reckon that counts, then go back a further few months to the Plain White Ts, who referred to American steeplechase runner Delilah DiCrescenzo in "Hey There Delilah." The song sold over a million copies in just over 20 weeks in the UK, despite failing to top the chart there. This was the sixth hot 100 #1 to pair a male group with a female solo artist. The other five? They were: 1974 "Then Came You" Dionne Warwick & Spinners. 1990 "Opposites Attract" Paula Abdul (Duet With the Wild Pair). 1995 "One Sweet Day" Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men. 2000 "Thank God I Found You" Mariah Carey featuring Joe & 98 Degrees. 2011 "Party Rock Anthem" LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock. So what does Jagger, himself think about the song? Apparently it has put some weight on his shoulders when he takes the dance floor. Said the Stones' frontman: "It's very catchy. I could say I wish I had written it, but wouldn't that be weird? It's fun, very young children like it, which is always cool and funny. But what am I going to say? I'm not going to be mean about it, am I? It's very catchy pop, isn't it? It's funny. Only thing is, it puts a bit of pressure on me when I go out dancing!" Levine admitted to Rolling Stone that the song was almost shelved as he was nervous about releasing the risky Mick Jagger tribute. "S--t! ... 'Jagger' was almost a mistake. I was scared to release it," he said. |
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| Maroon 5 – Misery Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is the first single from American pop rock band Maroon 5's third studio album, Hands All Over. The song documents the decay of a relationship, familiar territory for the band. Frontman Adam Levine told MTV News: "'Misery' is about the desperation of wanting someone really badly in your life but having it be very difficult. Kind of what all the songs I write are about. I'm not treading on new ground, but I think a lot of people - including myself - deal with that all the time. Relationships are difficult, and it's good therapy to write about them." Levine told MTV News about the Joseph Kahn-directed video. "The cool thing is, when Joseph wrote the treatment after reading a few sentences, I thought it was really amazing," he said. "Because it kind of turns the whole idea of the sexual energy between two people - a guy and a girl, a music video, you've seen that a million times - that exists in this video, but it's turning it on its ass and having the girl be the more domineering one who's trying to kill me." The clip was filmed in Los Angeles with Levine's girlfriend - Russian model Anne Vyalitsyna - playing the leading lady. The female lead's attempts to kill her lover in the video results in plenty of action sequences. This meant that stuntmen were required to double up for the band members in some of the scenes. Levine admitted to MTV News: "I'll tell you a little secret... the stuntmen were so great, but they probably weren't too happy because they had to dress like us [for the video], which was hilarious, because we aren't the most masculine dressers. This dude who was [keyboardist] Jesse [Carmichael]'s stunt double was, like, really buff, and he has Jesse's little low-top Converse and skinny jeans on. The shoes were, like, falling off his massive ankles." Levine added: "I did a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff is me! But most of it wasn't very dangerous. Although, by the end of the day, even not being hit by things is such a physical thing that I was really kind of beat up. I was like, 'Man, even thinking I got my ass kicked feels like getting my ass kicked.'" |
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