So, here’s the bad news: this life is not easy.
Harder, still, is getting through the day without being entirely consumed by your own crippling insecurities and/or anxieties that still need to be ironed out in therapy, which you can’t afford right now – let alone taking into consideration the opinions of others being thrust at you on your timeline, especially from those who do not wish you well. No? Just me? And also Madonna?
Anyway, here’s an alternative to crumbling: hype yourself up, instead.
Enter MUNA, the queer electro-pop band which produced a truly fantastic debut in the form of About U in 2017, including one of the more recent additions to my Favorite Songs Of All Time list: “Everything.” (Appropriately titled, still.)
After some time away, the group returned on Friday (June 7) with “Number One Fan,” co-produced by Mike Crossey (The 1975), a fierce, danceable burst of self-empowerment that is all too real, playfully sarcastic and genuinely encouraging all at once – and, mercifully, free of toxic positivity (#LiveLoveLaugh #YouJustNeedToSmileMore).
“So, I heard the bad news / Nobody likes me, and I’m gonna die alone in my bedroom looking at strangers on my telephone,” frontwoman Katie Gavin robotically monotones in the song’s opening seconds, which – well! I feel seen. But imagine not being consumed by existential dread, endless comparisons and loneliness from scrolling through the feed late at night?
“Well, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you like if I believed those words? / If I’m born to lose, I’ll never try and I will never learn,” she goes on, as a swift strut kicks in.
Rather than sulking, the troupe takes a collective look in the mirror and adjusts their moody mindset, going full-force as fans of themselves for once, instead.
“Oh my God, like, I’m your number one fan! / So iconic, like big, like stan, like / I would give my life just to hold your hand / I’m your number one fan,” they swoon on the playfully fangirl-y chorus.
The video only digs deeper into the concept, as Katie slowly but surely demonstrates how to be her own number one fan after much pursuit – and a bit of Dance Dance Revolution, naturally. (Deeply relatable.)
“’Number One Fan’ is the first release from an album that we truly cannot wait to share with our fans. It is a song about recognizing the negative voices in your head and learning to speak back to them. It’s a joyful and surprising experience to recognize that, just as we can all be our own biggest haters, we can also decide to be our own biggest fans. We can choose to believe in ourselves, to take notice of all the little admirable things we do, to applaud every inch of progress and comfort ourselves through every pitfall. It’s an incredibly liberating process, learning to love ourselves this way. In this culture, we are almost taught to look to other people to fill up some void in ourselves. What happens when we accept that we are already whole? We become our own icons. We become unstoppable and un-buyable. We save the world. No, just kidding, sorry we got caught up in the moment. (But maybe!),” they said in a statement, perfectly encapsulating the spirit of the song.
They’re only semi-kidding about that saving the world thing, though: the track is their first from their upcoming sophomore album, called – wait for it! – Saves The World, out on September 6.
It’s easily my favorite new song of the week, and already a very promising indication of what’s to come from the band.
“Pretty much anyone you look up to who’s making art has days where they’re like ‘Should I even be doing this?’ But you just keep going, you keep doing it anyway,” Katie said to Billboard.
Now read through the lyrics, post them up on your mirror, create a Brazilian stan account for yourself, blast this song on repeat – do whatever you need to do to live through this.
This song is featured on the MuuTunes Spotify playlist. Subscribe!
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“Number One Fan” was released on June 7.
Photo credit: Isaac Schneider / RCA Records
