Haven’t we all had our fair share of bad days? Whether it’s things not going as planned in our career or a bad date, sometimes these bad days can get us down – but as AJR say on their new single “100 Bad Days”, sometimes the worst days make the best stories.
As always, brothers Adam (bass, vocals), Jack (vocals, guitar), and Ryan (ukulele, piano, vocals) Met have a sense of optimism as they recount even the most seemingly negative experiences. “100 Bad Days” is the first single released from AJR’s third album, and follows the successful release of 2017’s The Click (RIAA certified Gold), which included platinum-certified single “Weak” and gold-certified “Sober Up.” They’ve amassed over 1 billion streams total, they’re the only new band with multiple songs on Billboard’s “Top 10 Alternative Songs of 2018,” and they sold over 100,000 tickets on their Click Tour in 2018.
Listen to “100 Bad Days” here or on Spotify below, and check out what AJR told Substream about the musical and real-life inspirations for the song.
Band Rejections: “As an independent band, we’ve had a very long thirteen year come-up. Most of those thirteen years has been filled with failures and rejections from this industry. But now, looking back, it’s really fun to tell those stories.”
2010 Hip-Hop: “There was an interesting moment in 2010 when a lot of songs were coming out that had these big sweeping inspirational horn sections. Artists like Lil Wayne and Lupe Fiasco would rap over these orchestral arrangements. That trend came and went very quickly, but we wanted that particular musical moment to be the sound of ‘100 Bad Days.'”
Dating Stories: “I (Ryan) spent the last year single, dating in between traveling and touring. On a lot of these dates that ended up going horribly, I somehow learned an interesting lesson: That the bad dates are way more fun to tell your friends about than the good dates.”
Israeli Music: “For this whole upcoming album, we were very inspired by Israeli production. It’s a kind of music that hasn’t broken through here in the U.S. yet, but it’s so instantly intriguing. There are constant tempo and groove changes, strange sounds, and big anthemic choruses—that was a big influence on the sound of ‘100 Bad Days,’ particularly the weird cowbell bridge.”
The Album: “We essentially created our entire album and tour at the same time. We conceptualized the album almost as the soundtrack to the Broadway Show that is the tour—they’re very intertwined. One of the last steps of writing this album was writing a first single that welcomed people into the world; something that was instant enough to catch people’s attention, but sounded interesting enough to match the rest of the album.”
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