R U 4 Me?

Album: Today We're The Greatest (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Ever wonder if your friends and co-workers were for you or against you? That's what Middle Kids frontwoman Hannah Joy was asks in this song, with the stylized title "R U 4 Me?"

    Joy got the idea from her time at the Australian Institute Of Music, where she studied composition and music production. There were signs on the walls saying "Be Nice, It's Not That Hard."

    "The tone of the message itself actually wasn't very nice or kind," she said. "We are always looking around at other people thinking 'are you on my team?' I think this just results in us all feeling lonely."
  • "R U 4 Me?" was the lead single from the second Middle Kids album, Today We're The Greatest. After releasing their debut single, "Edge Of Town," in 2016, the Australian band got a flurry of interest and spent the next few years furiously touring, recording and promoting. They slowed down after releasing their New Songs For Old Problems EP in 2019, then ground to a halt during the pandemic. By the time they set out to record Today We're The Greatest, Hannah Joy had a new perspective. She and her husband/bandmate Tim Fitz were expecting their first child. The songs on the album ended up being more personal than their previous work.
  • Lars Stalfors produced this song along with the rest of the album. He's worked extensively with Cold War Kids, who Middle Kids toured with in 2017.
  • The music video was directed by W.A.M. Bleakley and takes place at a military school where one kid is way out of his element. He gets ridiculed and hazed, but finds a portal where the Middle Kids are playing this song and displays his true talent: dancing.

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