Get The Girl Back

Album: Anthem (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • The first official single released by Hanson, off their Anthem album, is a '60s Motown influenced soulful track complete with horns and a steady bass beat. Taylor Hanson told Radio.com that the throwback feel was definitely premeditated. "Anybody's that followed our band knows that a huge part of our story is listening to classic rock & roll and soul music," he said. "We actually dedicated the song to a famous bass player, Bob Babbitt, who played on so much Motown music and actually played on our last record. He passed away before we could make this record so there's a legitimate connection to that era through Bob."

    Taylor continued: "We really wanted this song to bring people in because we reasserted the '60s soul influence on the last album, and this song continued that tradition so much that it was such a perfect bridge from Shout it Out, our last record. It actually captures a part that is really essential to this band, which is melody and danceable rhythm. Songs that you put on and you want to drive, you want to move, it gets you out and it pulls you in. It has melody to carry itself. It also tells the story of where we've been and acts as the gateway drug into a whole new record of music."
  • The song's music video stars American actresses Kat Dennings (Two Broke Girls) and Nikki Reed (Twilight, Thirteen). Zac Hanson told Entertainmentwise about the clip: "Kat and Nikki were both friends that we had met through mutual admiration of each other! We were fans of them, and they were fans of our music and basically we just said 'Hey! You guys wanna do a music video?' and they both wanted to do it. And really, the direction of celebrities was really just a very natural group of friends that came together."

    "What we wanted to create in the feeling of the video," continued Zac, "was not just telling the story of the song, you know, 'Get the Girl Back,' but to create that sense of that cool show that everybody's been to, or everybody waited outside of to try and get in to. The dance break that everybody wishes would happen at the show they're at, but we wanted it to be something cinematic, like a movie, not something that's just gone. It's something that could continue."
  • The song is a collaboration with the Los Angeles neo-soul band Fitz and the Tantrums. The Hanson brothers originally connected with them when they were touring Shout It Out. Taylor Hanson explained to The Idolator: "We heard their record, and we both had mutual respect and admiration for what each other's music. And how it started was like, 'Hey! We're fans of you guys,' and they felt the same way. So once we met, we tried to figure out what we could do together. We had to go back to a song called, 'I've Got Soul,' and there is a verse that Fitz sings. And we felt those two songs made sense musically. They were able to develop this neo-soul punk thing that's something that we love as well. And with the single, 'Get the Girl Back,' we love the idea of mixing their sound and put it into that record."

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