Dear Future Self (Hands Up)
by Fall Out Boy (featuring Wyclef Jean)

Album: Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die - Volume Two (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • This dance song features Wyclef Jean, who is best known as a member of '90s hip-hop group the Fugees. Sonically, it's a mishmash of sounds from all over the globe: The track starts off as a surf rocker, Jean's verses feature reggae-flecked rhythms, and the chorus samples Romanian electronic singer Inna's 2017 single "Hands Up." Bassist Pete Wentz told Kerrang: "We'd talked about doing a ska-type song for a long time, and we'd flirted with it a little bit, because that's one of the places that we meet up. It's another one of those songs that's a little bit bananas, because it's got surf guitar – like Uma Thurman at its most extreme. It's a pretty weird song. But if anything, that's Fall Out Boy."
  • Lyrically, the song is a complete mixture as well; the first verse finds Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump and Wyclef Jean talking about various insecurities in their lives. In the second verse, Stump gets a surprise visit from a lady, during which he sends a message to his future self.

    Dear future self, I hope it's going well
    I'm drunk on cheap whiskey in an airport hotel, yeah


    The chorus is a celebration of the song's sound.

    Hands up, ready for the boom
    Never mind the rocket launcher, talking 'bout a tune
    You can hear us comin' with the zoom
  • The song was released simultaneously with Green Day's single "Father Of All..." and Weezer's "The End of the Game" on September 10, 2019. They did so to promote the 2020 Hella Mega Tour featuring all three bands.

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