Dark Saturday

Album: Art of Doubt (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Emily Haines spending a "Dark Saturday" night engaging in conversation with some wealthy fake people, one of whom proclaims "I'm so rich, everything's free." Stuck with these phonies, the Metric singer is itching to be with her real friends.
  • The song was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen who has previously worked with M83, Beck and Nine Inch Nails.
  • Haines told NME that when talking to video director Justin Broadbent about how to translate the song's sentiment about being "trapped in useless conversation with rich idiots," the group decided they "had zero interest in making a conventional music video." Instead they decided to make a dark black and white clip about exploring a mysterious city late at night after checking into a seedy motel. She added:

    "Broadbent mapped out some locations and moments and we knocked them out till the break of dawn. I love how he captured that feeling of separate loneliness for each of us in the form of four phone screens, and the 'wish you were here' postcard punchline at the end. For anyone who has had that alienated 'get me the hell out of here' feeling, we're right there with you."
  • "Dark Saturday" was released as the first single from Metric's seventh album, Art of Doubt. The record finds the Canadian band returning to their more familiar guitar-based sound after dabbling with synth-pop on their previous set Pagans in Vegas. Emily Haines told NME:

    "'Dark Saturday' was a little nod to everyone with broken hearts over the lack of guitars on Pagans In Vegas. That was an example of just pure fun. Not only are there guitars, but it's nasty and rude. You hear the amp, you hear the noise, and it's not a slick, electronic reality."

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