S.O.S. In Bel Air

Album: Bankrupt! (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • Bankrupt! was born out of the negative influences after the international success of Phoenix's previous album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. On this song, frontman Thomas Mars is crying out for help after being enticed by a Californian temptress. He doesn't want to cross the line but Mars has been seduced by the West Coast lifestyle and is struggling to resist his emotions "Put my name on your list, SOS in Bel Air!", he cries. "At that time, we started talking about success and not music," Mars told The Associated Press. "I guess it was time to protect ourselves and focus on music again."
  • Mars denied to The Guardian that this song is a diss aimed at Hollywood. "It's more a sadness," he said. "There is a similarity to Versailles where we grew up, which has this upper-class loneliness and a jaded lifestyle."

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