When You Die by MGMT

Album: Little Dark Age (2018)

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This cheery and upbeat sounding pop song features morose lyrics about the state of the nation in the Donald Trump era.

I'm not that nice
I'm mean and I'm evil
Don't call me nice
I'm gonna eat your heart out
I've got some work to do
Baby, I'm ready, I'm ready, ready, ready to blow my lid off

MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden explained to The Guardian: "What Trump has done is just expose a whole lot of things that were there already. In When You Die, when we're saying 'I'm not that nice', it's owning up to existing in a modern United States of America: you're kind of part of this evil whether you want to be or not."
In a profile of MGMT in Q Magazine, co-producer Dave Fridmann reportedly encouraged Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser to bring in outside collaborators, which led them to work with Ariel Pink. The psychedelic singer-songwriter played guitar on and co-wrote "When You Die."
The surreal music video stars Alex Karpovsky (Ray from Girls) as a magician.
Ariel Pink wrote his queasy verse lyrics for the song in about four minutes. VanWyngarden recalled: "Ariel had this piece of paper, incorporating things we'd just been saying in the hallway. When I sang them, it was like; 'Yeah, why not? Why can't this be the lyrics?' For me that was really liberating, rather than sitting there like a poet, scratching out lines for days, trying to find some deep, multiple-meaning thing."

Comments: 6

Brousey from On - Ontario@Shutcho Goofiness Up from Ireland
Most songwriters dont tell exactly what meaning is behind the lyrics as it removes the intimacy from people who no longer can relate. The whole secret to song writing is to have a story yet vague enough to touch more people than just the ones who can relate... Its why some of the greatest writers get so much attention. a perfect example Maynard James Keenan from Tool.

They weren't even releasing lyrics as he wanted you to hear what you wanted... Besides it's curiosity that killed the cat but motivated the human...
Frsh from El SalvadorThe truth is that the entire album is not about Donald Trump. MGMT said that because they hate people trying to find some deep meaning in every song. This song is obviously about death. I don't know how the f--k are we supposed to interpret a fat, ugly, orange millionaire as the subject matter for this song.
Shutcho Goofiness Up from Ireland @Unknown From Not Addressed You’re seriously valuing your own opinion on the song overall the word of the lads who wrote it?
Oh Really Now?@Not Dumb from Whereer U Want, it doesn't have anything to do with Trump, the entire album is about trying to understand the inevitabilities of life and every song tackles it. When You Die in particular is supposed to bring you through the mind of someone who is angry at the fact that they will die, and that they get so mad, they end up trying to cheat it by killing themself, only leaving them to a permanent night with the laughter of everyone who thought it'd be better on the other side.
Not Dumb from Whereer U Want@Unknown From Not Addressed, MGMT themselves said it's about Donald trump you smooth brain
Unknown from Not AddressedIt has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

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