The first single from Tell Me I'm Pretty, this is about a girl who knows what she wants and how to get it. The track was produced by Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach, who also contributes some guitar work.
The genesis of the song was a riff that guitarist Brad Shultz came up with, inspired by the late Memphis, Tennessee axeman, Jay Reatard. Vocalist Matthew Shultz recalled to Consequence of Sound: "Brad was listening to a lot of Jay Reatard at the time and was inspired by the riffs that Jay was so incredible at writing. We had already recorded a majority of the record and took small breaks from the studio with Dan [Auerbach] and went and demoed some new tracks. 'Mess Around' almost didn't make the record - Brad was unconvinced that it fit. And I overheard him playing the riff and got really excited, and then convinced Brad to pursue it as a song."
When writing the song, Matthew Shultz was inspired by Outkast. He explained: "A couple years ago I saw OutKast doing their festival circuit. Andre 3000's delivery and his sense of melody was inspiring to me. I was wondering if there was a way to create an alternative song with a similar kind of energy, marrying that with a Byrds or a Creedence Clearwater Revival stylistic color." "We recorded it in one day and brought it into the studio," he added. "Dan got very excited about it - he actually did the solo that's on that track. It just happened really fast."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.