Cool Girl

Album: Lady Wood (2016)
Charted: 46 84
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The lead single from Lady Wood, this was written by Tove Lo with The Struts. The Swedish singer collaborated with the production duo on half of the tracks on her debut Queen Of The Clouds album, including the hit singles "Habits (Stay High)" and "Talking Body."
  • The song was inspired by a monologue scene from the creepy 2014 film Gone Girl involving its titular character played by Rosamund Pike. Tove Lo told The Sun: "I wrote it pretty soon after I saw Gone Girl. It's the moment she goes from being a victim to a psycho."
  • In the movie Gone Girl (based on a novel by Gillian Flynn) Rosamund Pike's character Amy is very manipulative, essentially playing the role of a "cool girl" in order to win over Ben Affleck's character Nick, acting like she is perfectly fine with pizza and beer and his wandering eyes.

    In most romantic relationships, each person is putting forth a different version of themselves to appeal to the other, which is what Tove Lo takes on in this song. When she sings, "Let's not put a label on it, let's keep it fun," she's giving the guy what he wants, a-la Amy in the film. In the bridge is when she gets real, expressing what she really wants:

    I got fever highs
    I got boiling blood
    I'm that fire
    We could burn together
  • Tove Lo told the BBC she penned the chilly lyrics about our weird need to play the game of "whoever feels less has the power" in relationships.

    The Swede added: "When you create, you try to get out of your safe zone. It's okay to be upset or depressed. You'll pick yourself back up. We shouldn't be so scared of our emotions... You think you want someone who doesn't want you, or you want someone who isn't fazed by anything you do. Really we all just want full on, real love."
  • In this song, Tove Lo tries to play it cool by keeping the guy she is attracted to at a distance: "Ice cold, I roll my eyes at you."

    She told the BBC: "Making the other person insecure is kind of stupid when you like someone. It takes more courage to have an open heart - that's what I'm trying to say, but it's sarcastic. It's like the opposite song!"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Adele

AdeleFact or Fiction

Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.