AJR‘s single “Bang!” is about entering a new phase of your life, and adjusting to that new normal. While that sounds a lot like what a lot of people are going through now in the time of COVID-19, the song was written way before the pandemic hit.

As the trio — made up of brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan Met — tells ABC Audio, “Bang!” actually originated during the sessions for AJR’s most recent album, 2019’s Neotheater.

“The concept was very much a sequel to Neotheater,” Ryan explains. “Where Neotheater was very much [about] trying to remain a kid, I think ‘Bang!’ is about trying to fit in with the adults and trying to do all the things that your parents do, but it doesn’t quite feel natural yet, and know[ing] that it’s inevitable at some point.”

“Of course, we did not know a pandemic was coming,” he adds.

However, there is one eerie connection between “Bang!” and the pandemic, specially with the music video, which premiered in February.

“In the music video, we have a scene with doctors with masks,” Ryan shares. “How would we have ever known that the world would be wearing masks a few months later? Yeah, a weird coincidence.”

AJR is currently working on new music to follow “Bang!”, which peaked at number two on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.

“In the next very short time, we will be putting out new music,” Jack teases. “We’ve been hyping it up on our social media and everything like that, but a new song is finally coming out.”

“Or songs,” he adds.

By Josh Johnson
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