Released: January 13, 2013
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, Radio Airplay
Recorded: October 2012, Avatar Studios, New York City, NY
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop-Punk
Length: 5:02
Label: North Hill Records
Writer(s): Amy Meyer
Producer(s): Isaac Lovelock, Riot! In The Boulevard
THE REVIEWThe heartbreak and poisonous teenage angst writing of Amy Meyer has served Riot! In The Boulevard incredibly well in the past, they’ve become the poster boys (and girl) for the unconventional teenage loners and their spirited but often bleak take on love is just one of those things that has propelled them to superstardom, not just in the eyes of the lonely youth across the States but in the eyes of a mass audience that has been circulating for the past three years now and the band have started the engine running for this new year, with a tour beginning in late January and set to sweep across the world for the majority of 2013 and now the awaited second single from their most recent studio effort, their third number one record (‘Crossroads’) is set for release.
From the very opening of the song, that aggressive leading guitar riff and the sound of Amy Meyer spitting out the opening lines with just as much aggression
(“There she goes, they call her little miss drama”) it’s an opening line that instantly sets the angry tone of the song and as the song arrives at around the one minute mark it becomes a clashing and powerful statement from the band as all four of the bands instrumentalists give the song a huge rock and roll weight to it, the guitar riff from Justin sounds vintage, almost as though it’s been borrowed from a 70’s Classic Rock outfit, while Adam’s guitar playing is much more looser, fast and ferocious like the young rock group are trying desperately to keep the pop-punk candle blazing as brightly as they can, combine that with the huge almost big band drumming of Nathan Mullen that gives the song a little of the dramatic elements and you’ve got yourself a modern pop-punk interpretation of Phil Spector’s classic wall of sound. But at the very height of it all and amidst the huge instrumental backdrop is the voice of Amy Meyer’s, not in an shape or form dwarfed by the large guitar based production of the song, it’s heightened when she fires out the lines
(“Those beautiful songs lamenting love couldn’t have been more pure/But the media infected her and there’s just no cure.”) It’s evident that she’s singing a song about celebrity culture, but with a little more of a deeper look into the lyrics and the fiery nature of her vocals it’s more emotional than it may come across to the casual listener, she’s not just singing about a celebrity wannabe but perhaps even a friend who may have lost their way in the height of fame, it’s angry and aggressive on the face of it, but it’s also a portrayal of someone who has been changed by fame and as Amy bellows out the words, you feel that although they’re sharp and aggressive that they’re rooted in emotion. Another way of interpreting the song is that it could very well be self-deprecating, although it’s not written in the first person it’s not completely unfeasible that this is Amy Meyer taking a stab at her own feelings about herself and the person that she’s become, after-all she has become a well-known name in the industry so don’t rule out the possibility that this isn’t about the flame-haired frontwoman.
THE VIDEO
Title: How Did We Get Here?
Artist: Riot! In The Boulevard
From The Album: Crossroads (2012)
Director: Samuel Bayer, Amy Meyer
Starring: Georgina Whitford, Russell Kennedy, Amy Meyer, Justin Mullen, Adam Benjamin, Jason Greenberg, Nathan Mullen
The video begins rather silently, the background noise of cars can faintly be heard somewhere in the distance but the centre of focus is attached to the blonde haired girl and the dark haired boy, they’re standing in the street, outside of an old and dingy looking apartment that they both call home and as the camera pans around to show the blonde-haired girl, she looks into the eyes of the boy and stares deeply into his eyes, she lets out a little smile and says,
“This is it, they wanna sign me to their record label, can you believe that?” her eyes now almost sparkling with joy and excitement as the boy responds,
“Wow, you’re serious? Congratulations, that’s great news for you” his face doesn’t show as much joy as his forced words put across and the young girl realises this, she places a hand on the side of his cheek and asks,
“What’s wrong?” and the boy quickly replies,
“You’re gonna be huge, I’m really happy for you but I can’t help but feel that this is it for us.” she looks hurt,
“Why would you even say that? Nothing’s gonna change between us, I promise I won’t change.”
And as the scene fades out and the fast pace guitar introduction begins it cuts to a five-piece rock band performing in what looks like the desert, A close-up shows the steely eyes of the lead singer of Riot! as she grips the microphone tightly in her hands and looks out at the far-off distance as the drums pound effortlessly into action alongside the driving sounds of the three guitarists, Justin Mullen, Adam Benjamin and Jason Greenberg and Amy bellows out the opening lines with an angry tone to her voice;
“There she goes, they call her little miss drama
On the outside she’s a beautiful spirit but on the inside she’s got a soul darker than night
Her album is about to drop on Monday and it’s the perfect time for her to start a fight
Whatever gets her through her empty days
Whatever gets her through those cold and lonely nights
The press haven’t spoken about her in a little while
And she’s starting to think that she may be going out of style
So she’ll change her sound from country to techno
But don’t criticize her
Because she’ll never ever let go”
As the music continues to ring out, the scene then cuts back to the young couple as they’re still both standing out on the street, the boy looks at her and says,
“Make sure that you keep that promise.” and the blonde-haired girl doesn’t say anything, she just smiles ever so slightly and takes a step closer to him, she places her hands on his lower neck and presses her lips up against the boy’s and the two share a passionate kiss with the backdrop of a wall sprayed with street art, as they finish kissing they press their heads against each other and stare longingly into each other’s eyes for a few brief moments as the guitar instrumental ring out in the background and Amy’s vocals finally come back into focus as she sings;
“Well here she goes again tonight
Just playing the victim but it’ll be alright
It can be just another story to sell to Rolling Stone
About how all of her friends have abandoned her and left her all alone
And she’ll claim that all she wants is some respect
But that girl is way beyond help
The noose is already wrapped around her neck”
The scene then cuts back to the band performing together in the desert, Amy’s hands still clutching at the microphone as close-ups of the band playing their instruments come into view, most notably Justin’s hugely energetic guitar playing becomes a focal point as the sun beats down onto the desert sands and onto the band as they play in the blistering heat, the setting doesn’t deter the bands energy or enthusiasm as they’re seen moving around with a lot freedom and youthful exuberance and Amy’s performance at the microphone continues to be aggressive as she continues to bellow out the harsh words;
“She’s friendly now, but it won’t last
And she says all of her trouble is buried in the past
She’ll confide in you and talk about her greatest insecurities and fear
And I just sit and wonder
How did we get here?”
The scene then cuts to the young girl once again, this time she’s in an apartment, the guy from before isn’t there, but there’s a long-haired rocker looking guy laying on the bed with a bottle of alcohol beside him, the scene focuses on the loneliness and the sadness at the young girls current life, as she’s watching the TV, she’s looking at herself performing in front of thousands of people and her eyes are clearly sad due to the emptiness that she feels these days, she looks over at the guy laying out on the bed and the scene follows the young girl as she makes her way into the bed, she pulls the covers up over her body and just stares at the wall, her face now much more emotional as tears can be seen during a close up of her face. The music remains to play as all of this enfolds and Amy’s voice beckons out of nowhere once more as she sings;
“She used to be the next music hero until fame hit her
She quickly turned to zero
Those beautiful songs lamenting love couldn’t have been any more pure
But the media infected her and there’s just no known cure”
Again, the scene cuts back to the band performing in the desert an instrumental breakdown gives the band the chance to show of their skills in front of the camera’s as close-ups of their instrumental playing dominate the screen for the next few moments and then as Amy’s vocals arrive once more, the close up then focuses on the enigmatic frontwoman as she continues to look angry but remains energetic as she continues to sing;
“Well there she goes again tonight
Just playing the victim but it’ll be alright
It can be just another story to sell to Rolling Stone
About how all of her friends have abandoned her and left her all alone
And she’ll say that it gets tough and that nobody will ever care
With a tweet tweet here and a tweet tweet there
But she changes her tune pretty darn quick
She knows how to work the industry
She knows every little trick”
The final scene of the music video shows the young girl walking down a road, the bleak and grey skies replace the sunshine and brightness of the desert as the young girl is wearing a trench-coat and making her way towards the old apartment that she used to share before she became a “star”. She looks across the street and see’s the guy from the beginning of the video holding hands and laughing with a young girl that doesn’t look too dissimilar to his former girlfriend. She slumps down onto the floor and just stares at her former love, her eyes now filled with tears as her mistakes have been truly realized.
“She’s friendly now, but it won’t last
And she says all of her trouble is buried in the past
She’ll confide in you and talk about her greatest insecurities and fear
And I just sit and wonder
How did we get here?”
THE SONG‘How Did We Get Here?’ is a single by the American alt-rock band ‘Riot! In The Boulevard’, it’s the second single from their third studio album ‘Crossroads’ and is the ninth official single released from the teenage musicians in under three years in the music business. The track was written towards the end of September 2012 solely by band-leader and frontwoman ‘Amy Meyer’, it was written during the recording sessions of their latest album and included as an almost last-minute track for the collection of music released on the number #1 album ‘Crossroads’ and it follows their previous single from the aforementioned third studio album ‘Crossroads’, that previous single was ‘Somewhere On The Horizon’ which became their fourth number one single of their short careers.
It’s a song that is heavily linked to celebrity culture and the things that people will do in order to stay in the spotlight for as long as possible. It’s lyrics are relatively light-hearted in a surprising change from the more serious style that the band are known and famed for, but it’s lyrics are seen as a scathing indictment of the entertainment industry and the music industry in particular that each member of the band find themselves associated with, however the music is loud and aggressive which gives the song a powerful pop-punk feel to it.
This single was recorded at ‘Avatar Studios’ in New York City through October 2012 for their latest album ‘Crossroads’ and this will be released as the second single taken from their latest studio album and once again it features co-production from ‘Isaac Lovelock’. The single is set to be released through ‘North Hill Records’ and will be available in three formats, CD Single, Digital Download and Airplay, on January 13, 2013.
A powerful opening lead guitar riff if surrounded by the thunderous drum beats as Amy bellows out over the sounds of the instruments,
“There she goes, they call her little miss drama/On the outside she’s a beautiful spirit but on the inside she’s got a soul darker than night/Her album is about to drop on Monday and it’s the perfect time for her to start a fight” the leading guitar riff continues as does Amy’s vocal,
“The press haven’t spoken about her in a little while/And she’s starting to think that she may be going out of style/So she’ll change her sound from country to techno/But don’t criticize her/Because she’ll never ever let go” as the leading riff drives the song forward it’s now combined by the rhythm guitar and bass guitar from Adam and Jason as well as the repetitive pounding of the drums from Nathan which remains centred around Amy’s loud and aggressive vocal delivery,
“ Well here she goes again tonight/Just playing the victim but it’ll be alright/It can be just another story to sell to Rolling Stone/About how all of her friends have abandoned her and left her all alone/And she’ll claim that all she wants is some respect/But that girl is way beyond help/The noose is already wrapped around her neck”The song reaches its breakdown point as the guitars soften slightly with the bass becoming more prominent at this stage of the song as Amy continues to sing,
“She’s friendly now, but it won’t last/And she says all of her trouble is buried in the past/She’ll confide in you and talk about her greatest insecurities and fear/And I just sit and wonder/How did we get here?” the instrumentation then powers up once again,
“She used to be the next music hero until fame hit her/She quickly turned to zero/Those beautiful songs lamenting love couldn’t have been any more pure/But the media infected her and there’s just no known cure” the music continues to drive forward as the chorus and pre-chorus arrive once more before the thunderous beat of the drum ends the song.
LYRICS“There she goes, they call her little miss drama
On the outside she’s a beautiful spirit but on the inside she’s got a soul darker than night
Her album is about to drop on Monday and it’s the perfect time for her to start a fight
Whatever gets her through her empty days
Whatever gets her through those cold and lonely nights
The press haven’t spoken about her in a little while
And she’s starting to think that she may be going out of style
So she’ll change her sound from country to techno
But don’t criticize her
Because she’ll never ever let go
Well here she goes again tonight
Just playing the victim but it’ll be alright
It can be just another story to sell to Rolling Stone
About how all of her friends have abandoned her and left her all alone
And she’ll claim that all she wants is some respect
But that girl is way beyond help
The noose is already wrapped around her neck
She’s friendly now, but it won’t last
And she says all of her trouble is buried in the past
She’ll confide in you and talk about her greatest insecurities and fear
And I just sit and wonder
How did we get here?
She used to be the next music hero until fame hit her
She quickly turned to zero
Those beautiful songs lamenting love couldn’t have been any more pure
But the media infected her and there’s just no known cure
Well there she goes again tonight
Just playing the victim but it’ll be alright
It can be just another story to sell to Rolling Stone
About how all of her friends have abandoned her and left her all alone
And she’ll say that it gets tough and that nobody will ever care
With a tweet tweet here and a tweet tweet there
But she changes her tune pretty darn quick
She knows how to work the industry
She knows every little trick
She’s friendly now, but it won’t last
And she says all of her trouble is buried in the past
She’ll confide in you and talk about her greatest insecurities and fear
And I just sit and wonder
How did we get here?”
PERSONNELAmy Meyer – lead vocals, lyrics, composition, production
Justin Mullen – lead guitar, backing vocals, production
Jason Greenberg – bass guitar, production
Nathan Mullen – drums, production
Adam Benjamin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, production
Isaac Lovelock – production, mixing
SOUNDS LIKETonight Alive – Listening
