Chromeo Channel Katy Perry on New Song ‘Jealous (I Ain’t With It)’
When Rolling Stone spoke to Montreal electro-pop duo Chromeo in 2012, the group said they were inspired by the “weird shit” of the Bee Gees and ABBA and that they were working on “really cool dancefloor bangers that also challenge us from a writing perspective.” White Women, the band’s first album since 2010′ Business Casual, doesn’t arrive until May, but new song “Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” follows through on the group’s pop ambition.
The group told Buzzfeed that they originally rejected the song, claiming that production duo Oliver’s riff was too similar to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Thankfully, they acquiesced, admitting that the group’s new sound is “poppier perhaps, but more high octane, turbo-charged funk.” “Jealous” was also inspired by an unlikely source: Wyclef and Mary J. Blige’s 2000 duet “911,” which “Dave heard at a strip club in Jamaica while he was writing.”
Chromeo co-founder Dave 1 is characteristically blunt when it comes to the song’s theme. “Guys are all schmucks, let’s face it,” the singer said. “I don’t know why music constantly extols this fictitious macho fantasy persona — we’re all just puny insecure oversize children. And it would be funnier to embrace it.”
That description aligns with the group’s self-described goal of creating “Larry David funk” in an interview with Rolling Stone last year. “[It’s] a combination of sexy, funky, macho music with neurotically love-torn lyrics,” said Dave.
Asked about the potentially controversal title, Dave 1 told Rolling Stone, “We felt it was a challenge to this super conservative climate we’re feeling in America these days. We just wanted debates like this to be engaged. It’s interesting that the music we make can branch out into these conversations.”
The group kick off a eight-week cross-country tour on April 6th in Houston, Texas. White Women is due out May 12th via Atlantic Records.