Today, OK Go have shared their first new music of 2023, the joyous new single, “This.”
The Grammy Award-winning innovative rock band originally created the song for the Apple Original Film, The Beanie Bubble. The movie itself is in select theaters today — and available globally on Apple TV+ on July 28th — and stars Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan. View the trailer here and check out the movie to hear “This” during the film’s end credits.
From the married directing duo Kristin Gore (“Her,” “Foxcatcher”) and Damian Kulash, Jr. (lead singer of OK Go), and written by Gore, comes the wild and unlikely story of the team responsible for Beanie Babies. The Beanie Bubble follows Ty Warner, who was a frustrated toy salesman until his collaboration with three women grew his masterstroke of an idea into the biggest toy craze in history. It’s an inventive tale about what and who we value, and the unsung heroes whose names didn’t appear on the heart-shaped tag.
“‘This’ is about the unexpected places we find fulfillment. It’s about how heaven is the glow in the margins around the everyday patterns of family life. It’s the victorious anthem we needed for the closing moments of our film,” says Damian Kulash, Jr. “After almost two hours of a musical journey through twentieth-century pop music (which is like the most satisfying mix tape of all time, for me personally), we needed the final beat of the film to bring viewers back to the present day. Our fable about the American Dream is over, and as the lights come up we want you sinking into that bittersweet-victory flavor of nostalgia. That’s the feeling we want you to leave the theater with.”
Following the film’s July 17th advance screening at The 92nd St Y in New York City, Ira Glass (“This American Life”) led a discussion with the directors and the cast. The Beanie Bubble is produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Karen Lunder and executive produced by Galifianakis and Douglas S. Jones. Gore and Kulash spoke at length about the film with The Guardian. Read the interview here.
