PB&Jams: The Naked and Famous
Living in Hanover, we rarely have the chance to see bands that we know and love — unless you’re in with the people choosing who performs at Friday Night Rock or thought that Avicii 12W was more than just an excuse to pregame with your floormates and head to FoCo.
Living in New York during my off term was a (predictably) different story. Over 13F I was fortunate enough to see some incredible shows in the city, the first of which was The Naked and Famous.
During their fall tour, the band played at Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen two nights in a row. My roommate and I managed to catch their sold-out show on Thursday night before heading to Hanover on Friday morning for Homecoming weekend. While our excitement may have been partially due to the fact we were about to eat Molly’s bread and reunite with our friends, the show was absolutely incredible. I was admittedly skeptical of how their electronic-y music would turn out live, but lead singers Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers killed it with their vocals.
Formed in 2008, The Naked and Famous is an alt-rock band from Auckland, New Zealand. They’ve put out two albums since then, and their music has been featured in everything from FIFA 12 to “Gossip Girl” and “Grey’s Anatomy.
Their first album, Passive Me, Aggressive You, earned them six nominations at the New Zealand Music Awards. The 14-song album draws you in with its addictive choruses and MGMT-esque electronic beats.
The album kicks off with the number-one single “Young Blood.” Its music videois admittedly too hipster for its own good, but the song will be stuck in your head all day.
My favorite track on the album, though, has to be “Girls Like You.” The song starts with an accusatory intro with lyrics like “your heart is a stone/ buried underneath your pretty clothes,” and moves to a string of biting rhetorical questions.
The song asks, “What would you do if you lost your beauty/ How would you deal with the light/ What would you do if nobody chased you/ What if it happened tonight?” and kills it with a chorus of, “Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?”
I would argue that their most recent album, In Rolling Waves, takes a second listen before you’re hooked, but is nonetheless a success for the band. Listen to “Hearts Like Ours” first, then check out “The Mess.”