2021 Lyrics
Boy, boy
[Verse: Ezra Koenig & Jenny Lewis]
2021, will you think about me?
I could wait a year, but I shouldn't wait three (Boy)
I don't wanna be (Boy)
2021, will you think about us?
Copper goes green, steel beams go rust (Boy)
It's a matter of (Boy)
[Refrain: Jenny Lewis]
Boy, boy
Boy, boy
[Verse: Ezra Koenig & Jenny Lewis]
2021, will you think about me?
I could wait a year, but I couldn't wait three (Boy)
I don't wanna be (Boy)
2021, will you think about us?
Copper goes green, steel beams go rust (Boy)
It's a matter of (Boy)
About
With its melancholic reflection on the passing of time, “2021” is one of six singles from Vampire Weekend’s fourth album Father of the Bride.
The song features a refrain from singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis and samples a synth line from legendary Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Ezra Koenig, in a Beats 1 interview with Matt Wilkinson:
This is music that he composed in the ’80s to be played in Muji stores in Japan. And when I first heard it, I was so struck by it and I immediately started looping it and I started writing this song on top of it. So anyway, shout out to Haruomi Hosono, who has graciously cleared the sample for us, and I guess shout out to Muji, too. They don’t own it anymore, he does, but, you know.
In an interview with Bob Boilen of NPR, Ezra said,
I wanted some type of sample like that and I heard something like and [producer] Ariel [Rechtshaid] suggested “Boy” and we had Jenny come in and record it and we pitched it and it’s weird. So we credited her as Jenny Lewis-Boy.”
- 1.Hold You Now
- 2.Harmony Hall
- 3.Bambina
- 4.This Life
- 5.Big Blue
- 6.How Long?
- 8.Rich Man
- 10.My Mistake
- 11.Sympathy
- 12.Sunflower
- 13.Flower Moon
- 14.2021
- 16.Stranger
- 17.Spring Snow
