Brace yourself, Hanson’s MMMBop is twenty years old this year. I know we feel old too.
To celebrate the anniversary they spoke to Vulture Magazine and reminisced on the success of the catchy song. They also shared some insight into its meaning and it turns out it’s not as happy as we would have thought.
They said, “It does tap into a theme we’ve continued to have, which is to interweave relatively serious thoughts — the verses, you know, ‘You have so many relationships in this life/ only one or two will last/ you go through all the pain and strife/ then you turn your back and they’re gone so fast.
“So hold on the ones who really care/in the end they’ll be the only ones there/ and when you get old and start losing your hair/ can you tell me who will still care?’
“Hopefully over time, the staying power of that song is about the fact that it’s more than it looks like at first glance.”
When asked if anyone has ever done a good cover of the song Taylor said, “I gotta be honest: No.”
Issac added, “You know why? People can’t sing the chorus right. Most of the time they syncopate it wrong.”
So it turns out we’ve all been singing it the wrong way all these years.
