How You Like Me Now?

Album: The House That Dirt Built (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was featured in a commercial for the Kia Sorento that aired during the Super Bowl in 2010. The spot was titled "Joyride Dream," and it was considered one of the game's best. In the ad children's toys Sock Monkey, Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba, Mr. X, Robot and Teddy Bear come to life in the car. It was a huge breakthrough in America for The Heavy, who are from the small town of Noid, England.
  • When we spoke with The Heavy lead singer Kelvin Swaby, he told us about this song: "It was that point of mine and Daniel's (Taylor - Heavy guitarist) life when we were kind of at ends with our girls. 'How Do You Like Me Now' was when you can take advantage of a situation and it doesn't matter what you do. I'm trying to say that I've been really, really, really bad, you shouldn't love me after all. And I'm telling you I've done this and this and this, so how do you like me now? And it's almost like you're just being cocky with it, because you know that you can do it. It's like you know that you're in a position to be able to do that. It's when you realize that you're in that position, it's like what do you do? I mean, if after everything that I've told you, does that make you love me? Really? Does that make you love me? And if it does, then it just means that you can do whatever you want. Or it should bring you closer by the end of it. If you can acknowledge, Okay, there is someone that will love you wholeheartedly for whatever you will do, then you probably won't do those things.
  • When The Heavy performed this on Late Night With David Letterman, they so impressed the host that he asked the band to play some more - the first time that's ever happened on the show. According to Swaby, he didn't know the request for an encore was a unique distinction. Said the singer: "We were aware only after it happened. As soon as it happened, and we all went backstage, and David had said, 'Thank you so much, that was incredible,' and blah blah blah, all of the staff were like, 'I can't believe what just happened! That is unprecedented.' And we were like, 'What just happened?' We just played and we played again, sure. And then they start saying, in the whole history of that show that's never ever happened. But it was one of those, Okay, we're going onto David Letterman. And we'd watched a few performances of bands that we really liked on Letterman. We've played with the Noisettes before. But I remember just looking at our performance and thinking, Shingai (Shoniwa, Noisettes lead singer), you look as if you're playing it down a little bit. You're not playing it like you would play it. And I said to Dan, 'When we go out, just play it like we would all play, and I think that was the best thing.' We played it like we would play it at any show. And to see David kind of lose it over it was great."
  • What's up with the "Dirt" in their album title The House That Dirt Built? Swaby told us: "It's the mistakes, the imperfections of everything that's gone past and gone into the recording. We are huge, huge fans of everything that is raw within the influences that we choose to bring to the table. And that's what the dirt is, that's how we built this house for the second album."
  • This samples "Let A Woman Be A Woman," by Dyke and the Blazers. Dyke and the Blazers are an R&B group from the '60s best known for their 1967 song "Funky Broadway."
  • This was featured in the 2010 movie The Fighter, which is about the boxer Micky Ward.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Which Songs are About Drugs?

Which Songs are About Drugs?Fact or Fiction

"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.

Justin Timberlake

Justin TimberlakeFact or Fiction

Was Justin the first to be Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher? Did Britney really blame him for her meltdown? Did his bandmates think he was gay?

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's Songs

Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's SongsSong Writing

"London Bridge," "Ring Around the Rosie" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring" are just a few examples of shockingly morbid children's songs.