"Birthday Party" is a song by American pop band AJR. It was released as a promotional single via S-Curve Records on March 12, 2019, for the band's third studio album Neotheater.[1]
| "Birthday Party" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by AJR | ||||
| from the album Neotheater | ||||
| Released | March 12, 2019 | |||
| Recorded | 2018 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:43 | |||
| Label | S-Curve | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Ryan Met | |||
| AJR singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio | ||||
| "Birthday Party" on YouTube | ||||
Background
editFollowing the release of lead single "100 Bad Days", AJR announced the album's name and cover art on March 10, 2019.[2] The album's tracklist was revealed in conjunction with the single release of "Birthday Party" on March 12, 2019.[3]
A sample of the song "In Heaven", written by Peter Ivers and David Lynch and performed by Laurel Near in the 1977 film Eraserhead, is featured in the bridge of the song.[4] On the show BUILD Series, Jack Met tells that "Ryan and I are at Columbia and we're studying film, and in one of our classes we saw this movie called Eraserhead [...] and then we saw this one part where this guy goes in a radiator, and then this woman starts singing to him, and as soon as she starts singing this song we looked at each other, we stopped laughing, and we were like 'Oh my god, we have to use this on the album'".[5]
In an interview on Zach Sang Show, Ryan Met explains the idea for "Birthday Party" came from "a neighbor who just had a baby, we were giving the baby bath, we were talking, and it was at the time the Brett Kavanaugh stuff was happening. The baby's mom, Sarah, was like 'Oh you don't know about any of this, the world is great to you'".[6]
Composition
edit"Birthday Party" is composed in 4
4 common time and in the key of C-sharp major, with a tempo of 84 beats per minute (bpm).
Personnel
editCredits adapted from Tidal.[7]
- Adam Met – backing vocals, instruments, composer
- Jack Met – main vocals, instruments, composer
- Ryan Met – backing vocals, instruments, composer, producer
- Chris Gehringer – mastering engineer
- Joe Zook – audio mixing
- Drew Allsbrook – audio mixing
- David Lynch – composer
- Peter Ivers – composer
- Ezra Donellan – vocals
- Ruth Kornblatt-Stier – cello
- Chris Berry – drums
- Emelia Suljic – violin
Charts
edit| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[8] | 29 |
| Czech Republic (Rádio – Top 100)[9] | 17 |
References
edit- ^ "NEW SONG 'BIRTHDAY PARTY' AND NEOTHEATER ALBUM PREORDER IS AVAILABLE NOW". Twitter. March 12, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
- ^ Legaspi, Althea (March 12, 2019). "AJR Bring Exuberant '100 Bad Days' Performance to 'Kimmel'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
- ^ LaScola, Ben (March 19, 2019). "AJR Announces 'Neotheater' Tour Dates, Album Tracklist". Red Roll. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
- ^ Vagabond, Rick (April 27, 2020). "AJR's "Neotheather" [Review]". Rick Vagabond. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
- ^ Met, Jack (March 26, 2019). AJR Chat About Their Latest LP, "Neotheater" (YouTube video). BUILD Series. Event occurs at 13:27. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
- ^ Met, Ryan (April 29, 2019). AJR Breaks Down Their New Album Neotheater (YouTube video). Zach Sang Show. Event occurs at 35:43. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
- ^ "Credits / Birthday Party / AJR". Tidal. March 12, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
- ^ "AJR Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
- ^ "ČNS IFPI". IFPI (in Czech). Retrieved August 14, 2023.