Today marks the eighth anniversary of pop rock band fun.’s second studio album, Some Nights. The lead single, “We Are Young,” became the group’s career-defining hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and netting fun. a Grammy for Song of the Year. According to producer Jeff Bhasker, however, the beat was “an inch” away from being on JAY-Z and Kanye West’s joint album, 2011’s Watch the Throne.
In a 2013 interview with MTV News, Bhasker recalled first offering the beat to Kanye while working with the duo on their collaborative project.
“They were going to rap over the beat, but everything gets changed at the last minute,” he said, before explaining how fun. ended up with the beat. “I was working with them on Watch the Throne when I met [fun. singer] Nate [Ruess] and I said, ‘Maybe you guys want to mess with this’ and [Ruess] really liked it a lot. In the end, it didn’t quite fit on [Throne] because it’s a big pop song on an album they wanted to have a undergroundness and counter culture sensibility.”
Although this particular beat didn’t make WTT, Bhasker scored three placements on the album: “Lift Off,” “That’s My Bitch,” and “The Joy.”
Bhasker also revealed “We Are Young” is one of the many songs made with Rihanna in mind. He said “she was kind of a muse” for fun., who hung pictures of her in the studio while recording the album.
“They said, ‘Who can we get? And I said, 'Let’s get Rihanna,’” he remembered. According to Bhasker, Rihanna actually heard the song and liked it, but the producer believes “some wires just got crossed.”
This puts the smash hit in the company of songs like Drake’s “Find Your Love,” Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” Miley Cyrus‘ “We Can’t Stop,” and more recently, Tyler, The Creator’s “EARFQUAKE.”
Janelle Monáe is featured on the interlude, when she sings:
Carry me home tonight
Just carry me home tonight
Carry me home tonight
Just carry me home tonight
As Bhasker noted, Monáe worked out to be the perfect choice. “She brought the right element of a great soulful flavor that we wanted for the album,” he said.
“We Are Young” marked both fun. and Monáe’s first single on the Hot 100, topping the chart for six weeks straight. It was certified 5x Platinum by June 2012 and has since been certified Diamond. Some Nights also spawned two other Top 20 hits with “Some Nights” (No. 3) and “Carry On” (No. 20).
Read the full Jeff Bhasker MTV News interview here, and catch up on all the lyrics to fun.’s “We Are Young” on Genius now.
