Before alternative-pop sensation Fun had even released their second album, Some Nights, the first single off the album had already begun to take over top-40 radio stations everywhere starting in late 2011. This single was of course “We Are Young” which featured Janelle Monae. From teenagers’ Facebook statuses, to tweets, to the airwaves themselves, one couldn’t escape the hauntingly anthem-like lyrics of “We Are Young”. Upon the release of Some Nightsin February of 2012, and the subsequent radio takeover of the song “Some Nights”,Fun had officially taken over the pop music scene. And it’s really not hard to tell why.
Fun has always been a band that is completely unique and has had a style unmatched by any other band. Some Nights showed that off in the best of ways. The album’s title track is ridiculously catchy and, as per the usual with Fun songs, it has amazing lyrics that range from pensive to passionate to poetic in a matter of four and a half minutes. The next beautifully written song off Some Nights to grip everyone’s hearts was “Carry On”, an inspiring song with the simple message of “If you're lost and alone or you're sinking like a stone, carry on/ May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground, carry on”. Both songs are fantastic lyrically and musically, each featuring odd percussion or trumpet pieces – trademarks of Fun songs.
Along with songs like “Carry On”, “It Gets Better”, and “One Foot” that hold messages of self-empowerment in the best of ways, Some Nights held interesting story songs that are obviously of importance to the band. What’s interesting about these songs is that though the lyrics may hold a sad tone, the music itself pushes an upbeat attitude that drives a contradiction between lyric and music. It is in this that one finds that elegantly odd element that makes Fun so fantastic.
One last noteworthy aspect was of the incorporation of an important public aspect of the band’s lives into the song: that is, their dedication to LGBTQ activism. This was especially apparent in “It Gets Better” (the title happens to be a common tagline of LGBTQ activism) with lines like “But you call it a sin. Isn’t up to them. After all, after all I thought we were all your children”. A band whose members are not only fantastic musicians but also fantastic human beings is a band that always deserves recognition. Not surprisingly, Fun has been nominated for 6 Grammys this year and I for one hope they take all of them home, as Some Nights was definitely the best album of 2012, and Fun the best band.