.

Singled Out: Young the Giant's My Body

08/06/2010
.
Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. You may have seen Young the Giant on recent tours with Minus The Bear, Kings of Leon or The Whigs but the band is taking over Southern California this month with a string of residencies. To celebrate we asked frontman Sameer Gadhia to tell us about their new single "My Body," the first taste from their forthcoming album. Here you go:

We wrote "My Body" when we were all still living together in this condo loft on Sunset in Hollywood. We have quite a strange writing chemistry/ritual. All five of us are mutual writers, and most of our songs start from free form jams that everyone equally takes part in, so it makes sense that some of our most honest stuff comes from the inspiration of cooperated living. After a long day, however, the chaos of a five-way song-writing session can be tough to say the least, and so some songs take days/weeks to complete. My Body was completely different. Eric had the guitar riff stored away somewhere in the back of his brain, like most of his best work. It was a hot day in fall, and all of us were tired from playing in the heat of the amplifiers and sound system. We had spent a long time trying to write this slow building song that we were all getting a little tired of, so in semi-jest, Eric popped out the original guitar riff. It was something aggressive, vibrant; completely different from what we had been working on, so we immediately gravitated towards it. Fran added the four on the floor, and within ten minutes, the song was finished in its entirety. Ironically, "My Body" was the least edited track in pre-production�I guess it said something for us that really needed to come out. I started some aggressive yelps and yells, something different than a normal smooth delivery. From there, almost immediately, the words for the chorus popped out of my mouth. It was graphic and somewhat comical to me, and provoked a second listen, so I stuck with, "My body tells me no, but I won't quit, I want more!" I found it funny because, normally, it's the mind that tells the body not to do things�don't do this, you'll regret it. But in this role reversal, it was the body that attempts to restrain the mind from imagining things, as if it were it's own separate consciousness. From inside out, the song is all about the power of youthful aggression and resilience.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself, check out the video and grab those residency dates - right here!

Preview and Purchase Young the Giant CDs

Young the Giant MP3 Downloads