BOOM

Album: Orion (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This anthem for walking away from a toxic relationship with head held high was penned by X Ambassadors frontman Sam Harris from personal experience. "I've had to break off a few of them recently myself, and I was writing all these sad songs because of it," he said. "I needed to write one to give me confidence again. To turn my pain into my power."
  • The artwork for "Boom" features a series of dots which spell "boom" in Braille. X Ambassadors keyboardist Casey Harris has been blind from birth, so this is the first physical manifestation of the band's work he has been able to view.
  • The song was produced by Ricky Reed (Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," Pitbull's "Fireball", Meghan Trainor's "No").
  • The music video starts off with X Ambassadors performing the song wearing outfits that resemble construction-site safety uniforms. About halfway through it takes a surreal turn as an overhead light drops on Sam Harris' head, knocking him out. The singer picks himself up and continues to perform despite his injuries.
  • Sam Harris explained to Billboard the song came from a demo that had been sitting on his computer for a while from a session with a producer named Thomas Eriksen. Later when X Ambassadors were recording with Ricky Reed and Harris was looking for a drum sample to use in a different song, he pulled up "Boom." He'd forgotten all about it and exclaimed, "Whoa, what's that? We should work on that right now." They finished it within a day or two.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman Jack

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman JackSong Writing

The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.